Amphibians
Profile: Cane Toad (Bufo marinus)
The Cane Toad can also be referred to as the Marine Toad, South American Cane Toad, the Giant Neotropical Toad, Giant Marine Toad and Dominican Toad. The common name ‘Cane Toad’ was adapted from the main reasons of using the animal to eradicate pests that are usually found in sugar cane plantations.
Profile: African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis)
The African clawed frog is also known as platanna and originates from South Africa, and along the Rift Valley south of the Sahara in southern and east Africa. In western Africa, they can be spotted in Angola and Namibia. That not withstanding, they can now be spotted all over the world, in fresh water areas such as Europe, South America and North America where they are found as an invasive pest. The species is aquatic, thus are mostly found in rivers and ponds in sub-Saharan Africa.
Profile: Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra)
The term salamander originates from an Arab term meaning ‘lives in fire’. Traditionally, the species was seen crawling and coming out of logs that were put in campfires while cooking. Myths have it that the fire salamander could endure in fire, but you don’t want to find out the hard way if they can, because their skin does not offer any such protection against fire. The fire salamander can trace its origin in southern and central Europe as well as the Middle East and Northern Africa. The species prefer deciduous forests as they will be found in the hilly parts of Central and Southern Europe hiding in fallen leaves. They also can be found in tree trunks. Basically, the species is unnoticeable because they spend a lot of their time hiding under woods, stones, regardless of where they are, be it in water or in terrestrial areas.
