How do frogs, toads and other amphibians know how and where to find new bodies of water?

Question

We’ve got a new pond which must be half a mile away from the nearest lake/river yet frogs and toads have populated it almost immediately. How do they know where to find these new habitats?

In: Biology

Answer 1

[removed]

Answer 2

Insects and some animals take notice of polarized light which is what happens when light reflects off of a body of water especially at night. A full moon over a still pond becomes like a beacon to them. This is how mosquitoes know where to lay their eggs.

Answer 3

There are toads that live in the desert where they hibernate for most of the year in these weird sacks that preserve their moisture underground. When it rains the few times a year, they wake and reproduce, but most of the time they are underground.

Answer 4

I trunk it has encoded in their instincts. We really depend more on our technology now verses our natural instincts today. The same way salmon instinctively know how to find their original breeding grounds, sea turtles travel thousands of miles to the beaches they hatched from and so on…

Answer 5

[removed]

Answer 6

When I lived in southern Georgia as a kid, the subtropical rain would leave water standing in ditches and low places for months. Invariably small minnows and crayfish as well as the typical tadpoles would appear. I always attributed it to the white heron (egret) who loved to mill about these places and maybe somehow transported eggs along on their feet. Just a guess though..

Answer 7

You know, I’m kinda pissed. I tried making an ELI5 post about animal behavior about a week ago, and it was automatically removed because animal behavior questions are against ELI5 rules. Instead I had to search for 3 different subreddits who would take my question, and none of them answered as sincerely as ELI5 would have, so I basically never got my question answered. But this person?? And many others here??? Can all have their animal behavior posts put up and not taken down. I’m fricken sick of feeling like my posts get targeted for removal by bots when other people can get away with exactly the same kind of benign posts. TOO MANY RULES!