Swiss Frogs – Frogs from Switzerland

One of our team members had been recounting to a friend how well our frogs in the office pond had done this year.  We had a record amount of frogspawn and this has resulted in a multitude of baby frogs in and around the office pond.  However, we had not seen the number of tadpoles encountered by a traveller whilst on holiday in Switzerland.  The traveller was keen to tell us all about the frogs from Switzerland that had been encountered.

The pictures taken of a vast shoal of tadpoles in the shallows of a Swiss lake, certainly put the numbers of tadpoles we had seen in our pond to shame.  Whilst walking close by to the lake, a strange dark patch was seen in the shallows and it was only when observed at close quarters that the viewer discovered that they were tadpoles – thousands of them.

Frogs from Switzerland

The tadpoles shoal together in vast numbers presumably as a protection against predators.  Switzerland may not be famous for its reptiles and amphibians but it has a number of native species including frogs, toads, newts, as well as snakes, lizards and we think a terrapin, although our expertise on central European fauna is a little limited.

The tadpoles were estimated to be more than 2 cm long with large, well developed heads.  It is difficult to be certain as to what species they are, after all, we are not very knowledgeable when it comes to the fauna of Switzerland but at a guess we would say that they are what we in the UK call the Common Frog (Rana temporaria).  The Swiss call this frog – Grasfrosch.