Mike Benard: Herpetological photos, video, and stories

Amphibians and reptiles have fascinated me since I was a child. Here you can find my photos, video, and writing about these incredible creatures. To the right are links to video galleries of singing frogs and animal behavior. At the bottom of this page are links to some other popular articles on these animals.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about these animals. If you would like to use the images, videos, or writing, please send me an email at: mfbenard (at) gmail.com

I am a biologist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. You can learn more about the research projects undertaken by me and my students at the Benard Lab website.

Check out occasional posts on my blog, Natural History on the Web.

Follow me on twitter: @BenardMF

More of my nature photos can be found on Smugmug. Like the photos? They are also available on stickers, baby clothes, coffee mugs and other items at my MrBufo Zazzle Store.

The Pacific Chorus Frog Page describes the natural history of this widespread North American frog. You can also read some short blog posts on Pacific Chorus Frogs hanging out in eagle nests, riding Christmas Trees, and showing up in movies.

During the spring breeiding season, Spotted Salamanders migrate from burrows in the forest to temporary wetlands where they will breed. You can tell apart male and female spotted salamanders by looking at their cloaca during the breeding season. In contrast, the sex of many frog species can be told apart by looking at their thumbs.

Gray treefrogs develop bright red tails when they smell predators in the water with them. The bright red tails help distract strikes away from their bodies. This is just one example of the many ways amphibians respond to predators. Other responses includind changing tail shape and metamorphosing at a smaller size.

It can be hard to tell apart males and females. Here are a few characteristics that can be used to identify male and female frogs.

I raised the eggs of an albino female toad , and found that after only a few days, the male's genes turned on and the toad tadpoles developed dark pigment.

These amphibian and reptile coloring pages are based on photos of wild herps. Many different pages are available as pdfs to download, print and color!

There are over 7,000 species of frog in the world, with very different behaviors, body shapes, coloration patterns and life histories. This collection provides information, photos and videos about frogs and toads.

A short story about how some female salamanders care for their eggs.

A collection of salamander photos, videos and information. Many North American species are included, such as the Spotted Salamander, the Eastern Newt, and the Ensatina salamander.