endangered animals

This animal has been endangered for thirty-one years. At the date October 13, 1970, the Houston Toad was listed the endangered list. Its scientific name is Bufo houstonensis, and they grow up to 2 to 3 and a half inches long. They are indeed similar looking to the Woodhousesâ€™s Toad, except the Houston Toad is more compact. The coloration of this particular amphibian varies. It can be a from a light brownish color to a gray like color, as well as just being a purplish gray color. The ventral surface (which is the area where the throat is) usually possess tiny dark spots. Another factor is that the only way you can tell the difference between a male and a female is, that the male toads have a dark throats, that do appear like a blue color when its experiencing distention. Also they live form two to three years. In this essay, you will be reading about facts about the Houston Toad. Such as where is the habitat, mating techniques, and etc. This toad is a terrestrial amphibian, meaning its habitat is in deep sandy like soils in the Post Savannah vegetation areas, of the eastern central area of Texas. The most populated area of Houston Toads is Loblolly Pines. In these habitats the Houston Toad can burrow themselves in loose soils, (since they are very poor borrowers) because they need it in order to hibernate and aestivate when drastic weather occurs. When they do any of these procedures, they first burrow 40 inches deep in sand, then stay there until the weather clears out so they may come out and eat or mate. The breeding does take a great amount of time. The breeding process is a bit complex, as well it has to take place at just the right time. The first thing is that you must be about a year being a resident in that particular area in your habitat. Then the male makes a Bull Frog croaking sound to find a mate. Once the male attracts the attention, the female will start responding to the toad and they will both move nearer into the water to mate. This process lasts about an average of 14 seconds. Then the female then lays her eggs in a long string, and within a week, the tadpoles are hatched. An interesting fact about the mating is that the male mates when its at least one year old, and the female mates when he was about two years old. The reason the Houston Toad has declined in large numbers, because of a number of simple reasons. For instants, most ponds are being drained out, so that means that competition to reproduce and just survive in other ponds. Another reason for this is that other predators live in these ponds such as snakes and fish. Texas has long term droughts that dry out ponds and kills off eggs and toads. Also when the toads undergo hibernation or aestivation, they die because their habitat is being destroyed by inserting grass or fertilizers in the ground which traps the toad, and kills because of lack of oxygen. The main factor is that run of from farmlands that are herbicides, fertilizers, and insecticides get to the pond and kill the toads by poisoning their water supply. These are the factors of the decline of the Houston Toad. What Texas is doing to try and prevent this from happening is that the USFWAS, (US Fish and Wildlife Service) TPWD (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), and other organizations are trying to put laws on land ownership near their habitat. Also they are trying to develop Habitat Conservation Centers in Texas. There are some captivity centers that are located in Texas, but they are doing little progress. In my true opinion, I do not think the Houston Toad will survive in the future unless something is done to prevent this from continuing. Such as Texas needs to in-force laws to protect the toads by putting taxes on land, or something like that. This is the only thing that can save the Houston Toad.	Dutch

Written by: *Sam Jaramillo , Quenton Huang , George Chen*	(geschreven door)