--- title: Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad crossings and the fire-bellied toad — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad crossings and the fire-bellied toad», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In March a garden pond can fill with clumps of jelly dotted with black eggs: --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croa… # Frogs and toads near home: spawn, croaking choruses, toad crossings and the fire-bellied toad Lesson 309 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/0/) — In March a garden pond can fill with clumps of jelly dotted with black eggs: common frog spawn. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/1/) — A week or so later, long strings of eggs wound round the weeds in deeper water show that toads have come too. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/2/) — On a mild wet spring night you may hear the pond croaking and purring as males call for partners, and on the roads nearby toads walk back to the very pond where they hatched, which is why some roads have toad signs, tunnels and volunteers with buckets. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/4/) — A thousand eggs may become only a few adult frogs, because fish, newts, birds, beetles and dragonfly larvae eat so many. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/5/) — A small pond without fish, with gently sloping edges, gives them their best chance. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/6/) — Common frog spawn comes in a clump, each egg in its own jelly ball that protects it and keeps it warm like a little greenhouse; one common frog can lay about 1,000 to 2,000 eggs. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/7/) — Toadspawn comes in long strings like a necklace with a double row of eggs, wrapped around plants in deeper water; one string can be a few metres long. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/8/) — Out of a thousand eggs only a few become adult frogs, because fish, newts, birds, beetles and dragonfly larvae eat many, which is why frogs lay so many eggs. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/9/) — Male frogs and toads call to attract partners and tell rivals «this is my spot»; many puff up a vocal sac like a balloon to make the call louder, and natterjack toads are reported to be heard over a kilometre away, while common frogs purr quietly. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/11/) — Toads do not give you warts; warts on people are caused by a virus, and the toad's bumps are glands, not warts. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/12/) — Wash your hands after touching any frog or toad, and wet your hands first to protect its skin. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/13/) — In spring toads walk back to the pond where they hatched, sometimes crossing roads; volunteers carry them across in buckets on mild wet nights, and some roads have small toad tunnels. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/14/) — Frogs and toads spend winter in compost heaps and under logs, and some male frogs at the bottom of ponds, breathing through their skin in the cold water. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/15/) — Fire-bellied toads of Europe and Asia have a green or dark back and an orange or red belly; when threatened they arch their back to show the belly, the unken reflex, warning that their skin makes bad-tasting slime. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/16/) — Fire-bellied toads have pupils shaped like a triangle or a heart; Oriental fire-bellied toads are popular pets, and hands must be washed after touching them. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/309-frogs-and-toads-near-home-spawn-croaking-choruses-toad-crossings-and-the-fire-bellied-toad/17/) — A small pond without fish, with shallow sloping edges, invites frogs, because fish eat spawn and tadpoles and sloping edges let froglets climb out; frogs often find a new pond on their own within a year or two. - ← previous: [Frogs of the world: tree frogs, glass frogs, flying frogs and the goliath frog](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/308-frogs-of-the-world-tree-frogs-glass-frogs-flying-frogs-and-the-goliath-frog/) - next →: [Sharks by kind: great white, tiger, bull and hammerhead](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/310-sharks-by-kind-great-white-tiger-bull-and-hammerhead/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)