This species is found in the Bufonidae family. The species, which is endemic to the Sierra Nevada in California, is found from Alpine County to Fresno County. The Yosemite toad has evolved to live in a high elevation. Charles Camp, a Joseph Grinnell undergraduate student, first described it during the Grinnell Survey of California.
Habitat
The Sierra Nevada Mountains in California have a tiny area where Yosemite toads can be found. They have never been discovered anywhere else besides California. Yosemite toads are typically found next to pine woods in moist alpine meadows. Tadpoles of the Yosemite toad can be seen swimming in slow-moving alpine streams and in small pools of melted ice during their juvenile stage. On a mountainside between 1950 meters and 3450 meters above sea level, Anaxyrus canorus reside. These amphibians of the grasslands spend the night in abandoned rodent burrows, slither beneath boulders and logs, and dig under the ground.
Description
Amphibians of middling size, measuring 4.5 to 7.5 cm, are called Anaxyrus canorus. Among Californian toads, they have the most sexual dichromatism—the difference in coloration between the sexes—than any other species. Males have brighter colors than females, as is the case in the majority of sexually dimorphic species. Male Yosemite toads are gray or brown with huge dark markings, whereas females are gray or yellow green with minute dark flecks. It only takes the juvenile tadpoles 7 to 9 weeks to transform into adult toads, despite the fact that they do not resemble them at all. The black, western, and amargosa toads are all closely related to the yosemite toad.
Diet
Yosemite toad larvae and adults have different eating habits. While the adults of Anaxyrus canorus are largely insectivorous, the larvae consume plankton and debris. Hymenopterans make up a sizable portion of the toads’ food in the summer.
Lifespan and Impact on Human
The species B. canorus has a lengthy lifespan. Males have shorter lifetimes of at least 12 years, whereas females live at least 15 years. The Yosemite toad may help people by reducing bug numbers. Once studied, the poison found in paratoid glands might possibly prove useful.
Why is it not kept as a pet?
They are an endangered species of animal, and their numbers are rapidly declining as a result of toad diseases, drought, which is made worse by climate change, and drought. If Yosemite toads are to be preserved in their California environment, significant measures must start right away.
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