Ｔoad story

 

Ｔoad story

 

After Agudengba sang a song "All Things Are Spiritual", he told the coachman Azhuo another story about toads.

Agudemba said: When it comes to toads, many people confuse them with frogs, especially when it comes to tadpoles, as the two are almost indistinguishable. In biological classification, toads and frogs both belong to the class Amphibians, subclass Splendid, and order Anura. There are about 31 families, 303 genera, and more than 3,700 species in the world. However, toads belong to the family Bufonidae in the order Anura, and frogs belong to the family Rana in the order Anura.

You can tell the difference between frogs and toads by their appearance, movements and habits. Frogs are slim and beautiful, toads are bloated and ugly. A frog's hind legs are longer than a toad's, and its body is thinner than a toad's. In addition, frogs have webbing between their toes and slimy fleshy pads on their feet, but toads do not have webbing or fleshy pads between their toes. The skin of the frog is delicate and smooth, and looks more green, while the skin of the toad is bumpy and covered with warts, which makes it look darker. Frogs jump more frequently, higher, and with longer spans, while toads jump less often, lower, and with shorter spans. Moreover, toads mainly crawl, while frogs crawl less and mainly jump forward. Frogs live near water, while toads don't necessarily need water.

Agudenba smiled and said:

Judging from these characteristics, a toad is a toad and a frog is a frog. But things are never so absolute - there is a small toad about 5 centimeters long called the midwife toad, which lives both on land and in water. The aquatic granny toad has frog-like pads between its toes, and its living habits are more like those of a frog.

Toads live almost everywhere except Madagascar, Polynesia, and the two poles. Some studies date the emergence of toads to the late Cretaceous, roughly after the breakup of Gondwana, 98 million to 78 million years ago. Other studies suggest that toads first appeared in the early Paleocene. The Paleocene Epoch began approximately 65 million years ago and ended 55.8 million years ago, so toads may have originated 65 million years ago. There is now a relatively consistent view on the origin of toads: they first appeared in South America and then migrated to all parts of the world.

Toads live in a variety of environments from arid areas to tropical rainforests. The largest is the cane toad, which can reach 25 centimeters in length, while some smaller African toads are only 2.5 centimeters in length. Toads are found throughout China, most commonly found in hilly and peaceful areas below 1,000 meters above sea level. Mainly distributed are Chinese giant toad, black-orbited toad, flower-backed toad, etc.

Perhaps due to timid nature or the need to hunt, toads, except during the breeding season, mostly lurk in the grass, beside ditches and among crops during the day from late spring to late autumn, or lurk under rocks and soil around people's homes and dry land. In the cave. At dusk or night, the toads come out to move. They often forage on roadsides and grass, mostly beetles, moths, snails, etc. Adult toads often spend the winter in colonies in underwater sediment or under moist soil on land. Toads move slowly and clumsily, and are not good at swimming. They spend most of their time crawling on their hands and knees. When in danger, they will take small steps and jump short distances. Toads are oviparous animals. They lay eggs in water and are fertilized outside the body. They have strong reproductive capabilities. They lay eggs twice a year and can lay more than 20,000 eggs at a time.

Agudengba told the coachman Azhuo:

Toads are more powerful pest killers than frogs. Frogs are considered beneficial insects because they protect crops, but they pale in comparison to toads.

An ordinary black-spotted frog eats about 70 pests every day. Calculated by catching insects for 7 months in a year, it can eliminate about 15,000 pests. However, toads eat several times more pests in a day than frogs. A toad can eat an average of 270 pests per day, and 56,700 pests in seven months per year. Therefore, toads are more natural enemies of crop pests than frogs. Moreover, toads eat a wide variety of pests, including armyworms, aphids, stink bugs, scarabs, weevils, cutworms, beetles, leaf beetles, bog beetles, mosquitoes, flies, as well as large insects such as mole crickets and large green beetles. Leafhoppers etc.

Agudengba said:

In ancient Chinese traditional culture, the toad is a mythical beast, alongside dragons, unicorns, phoenixes, redbirds, basalts, white tigers and other high-looking mythical beasts. One of the main cultural symbols of the toad is the mythical beast that brings wealth. The golden toad for attracting wealth is a widely circulated and long-standing legend in China. There are many versions, among which "bangs play with the golden toad, fishing for money step by step" is the most well-known. In China, the toad is a symbol of wealth, health and longevity.

Agudemba sang a song called "Ode to the Toad":

 

The tadpole has grown up slowly,

His tail quietly disappeared,

He looked at himself in the water shadow,

It turns out he doesn't have green skin.

My whole body is covered with pimples,

The mother tadpole told her little tadpole,

You won't be the frog prince,

You will always be the son of Toad.

 

The little toad looked very inferior.

People mocked him as a toad.

But he still grew up gradually,

He understood his responsibility,

His mission is only one thing:

Eliminate all pests in the field.

 

The toad lives an open life,

Be aboveboard and fearless.

Toads are masters at killing pests;

He was praised by farmers.

People started calling him Golden Toad,

Because he brings wealth to the people.

 

From a tadpole to a golden toad,

He insists that I am who I am,

Although ugly and not as beautiful as a frog,

But my heart is so pure,

I only have one small wish in life,

Eliminate harm for the people and help them live a prosperous life.

 

Everything in the world has spirituality,

Being beautiful and shy does not mean good or evil;

True beauty comes from within,

To be respected is to be filled with love.