Male Midwife Toad (Alytes obstetricans)
Bedford 2/7/2022
The UK Midwife toads were introduced here over 100 years ago as stowaways among a shipment of plants to a garden nursery in Bedford. (Fossil evidence suggests that they once occurred naturally in the UK but for some reason they went extinct) They have since spread to other counties, and populations are mostly based in Bedfordshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire. They are characterised by their parental care, with males carrying strings of fertilised eggs entwined around their hind legs. The males carry their eggs for up to 6 weeks at which point they are ready to hatch where he deposits them in a suitable body of water.
Midwife toads are markedly smaller than our native amphibians growing to 5 cm in length (about the same size as a 50 p coin). Midwife toads feed mainly on small invertebrates they find among the undergrowth and may live up to 8 years in the wild.
Male Midwife Toad (Alytes obstetricans)
Bedford 2/7/2022
The UK Midwife toads were introduced here over 100 years ago as stowaways among a shipment of plants to a garden nursery in Bedford. (Fossil evidence suggests that they once occurred naturally in the UK but for some reason they went extinct) They have since spread to other counties, and populations are mostly based in Bedfordshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire. They are characterised by their parental care, with males carrying strings of fertilised eggs entwined around their hind legs. The males carry their eggs for up to 6 weeks at which point they are ready to hatch where he deposits them in a suitable body of water.
Midwife toads are markedly smaller than our native amphibians growing to 5 cm in length (about the same size as a 50 p coin). Midwife toads feed mainly on small invertebrates they find among the undergrowth and may live up to 8 years in the wild.