Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

Читати українською(переклад на редакторській перевірці)

AmphibianFrogEurope

A common frog (Rana temporaria) sitting among brown leaf litter, showing the dark patch behind the eye. — A female common frog (Rana temporaria) photographed in Germany.
Image: Andreas Eichler, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Overview

The common frog (Rana temporaria) is the most widespread frog in Europe, found from Ireland and Iberia across to Siberia and north beyond the Arctic Circle. Colour is highly variable — brown, olive, grey, yellowish or reddish — but a dark patch behind the eye is a consistent feature.

It is a true frog: smooth, moist skin, long hind legs built for jumping, and webbed hind feet. That contrasts with the common toad, which is warty, squatter and walks more than it hops.

Common frogs lay clumped spawn — the familiar mass of jelly-covered eggs in a garden pond in early spring — whereas toads lay their eggs in long strings wound around vegetation. It is one of the easiest ways to tell which animal has been breeding in a pond.

Habitat & Range

Common frogs occupy damp habitats across most of Europe and into northern Asia: meadows, woodland, marsh, moorland, hedgerows and, very commonly, gardens. Outside the breeding season they live on land in cool damp places, returning to still or slow-moving fresh water — ponds, ditches, ponds in gardens — to breed. Garden ponds have become important habitat in many countries.

Diet

Adult common frogs eat invertebrates: insects, slugs, snails, worms and spiders, caught with a rapid strike of the tongue. Tadpoles begin largely as algae grazers and become more omnivorous and scavenging as they develop. Adults generally take prey that moves, and feed less or not at all during the breeding period.

Behavior

Breeding is explosive and early: frogs converge on ponds in late winter or spring, sometimes while ice is still present, males call with a soft purring croak, and spawn is laid in large communal clumps. Common frogs breathe partly through their skin, which allows some individuals to overwinter at the bottom of ponds in oxygenated water; others overwinter on land under logs, stones and compost. Adults are largely nocturnal outside the breeding season.

Human Interaction & Conservation

The common frog is one of the amphibians most familiar to people because it breeds so readily in garden ponds, and garden ponds now provide significant habitat where farmland ponds have been lost. The species faces pressures from habitat loss and pond drainage, road mortality during breeding migrations, and amphibian diseases including ranavirus and chytrid fungus. Amphibian skin is highly permeable, so wild frogs should not be handled unnecessarily; this profile offers no handling, keeping or wildlife-health guidance and directs such questions to local wildlife authorities. Verify current status at the IUCN Red List.

Sourced facts

Each value below is traced to the specific reference that states it. Open a row's evidence to see the source, where to look in it, and how firmly it supports the value. Sources checked 2026-10-09.

Sourced facts about the Common Frog, with the reference supporting each
Fact	What the source states	Evidence
Geographic range	Great Britain, Europe and northwestern Asia; reaches as far north as the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia, farther north than any other amphibian there.	Matches source · Animal Diversity Web — how we know Animal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Where Geographic Range Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
Habitat	Almost any damp habitat in its range; commoner in cooler upland forests and wet meadows; the most common frog in mountain lakes.	Matches source · Animal Diversity Web — how we know Animal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Where Habitat Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
Diet	Insects and their larvae, woodlice, spiders, snails and worms; eating habits vary greatly with the time of year.ADW adds that they can detect worms by smell. It gives no tadpole diet.	Matches source · Animal Diversity Web — how we know Animal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Where Food Habits Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
Body size	Approximately 7.5-8 cm long; females tend to be larger than males.ADW does not say whether this is snout-vent length, nor which sex the figure describes.	Matches source · Animal Diversity Web — how we know Animal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Where Physical Description Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
Body mass	Average mass 22.7 g.A single data-table figure. ADW gives no sex, population or source for it.	Matches source · Animal Diversity Web — how we know Animal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Where Physical Description Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
Lifespan	Up to 14 years in the wild.The upper bound of a range (ADW cites AnAge), not a typical lifespan; ADW gives no lower bound and no captive figure.	Matches source · Animal Diversity Web — how we know Animal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Where Lifespan/Longevity Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
Activity pattern	Hides in damp places by day and forages at night or on rainy days; spends the winter in the soil of earth holes.	Matches source · Animal Diversity Web — how we know Animal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Where Behavior Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
Conservation status	Least Concern (LC), global assessment, 2022	Matches source · IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — how we know IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Checked by FaunaHub 2026-10-09 Limits Read from the Red List export IUCN publishes to GBIF; iucnredlist.org itself does not answer automated reads. Categories are reassessed over time.

Not stated here, and why

Social structure— no source accepted yet: The ADW account states no social structure. It says only that the frogs abandon their eggs after mating.

References for the facts above

UniversityAnimal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of ZoologySupports: Range, habitat, diet, body size and mass, lifespan, activity and social structure, as the account states them. Retrieved 2026-10-09.Limitations: A peer-edited account written largely by students under faculty review. Figures are compiled from the literature rather than from a single study, and some are regional.
ReferenceIUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesSupports: The global Red List category and the year of the assessment. Retrieved 2026-10-09.Limitations: Read from the Red List export IUCN publishes to GBIF; iucnredlist.org itself does not answer automated reads. Categories are reassessed over time.

Frequently Asked Questions — Common Frog

How do I tell a common frog from a common toad?

Look at skin, shape and movement. A frog has smooth moist skin, longer hind legs and hops; a toad has dry warty skin, a squatter body and tends to walk. Spawn is even clearer: frogs lay eggs in clumps, toads in long strings wound around vegetation.

Do common frogs hibernate underwater?

Some do. Because they can take up oxygen through their skin, common frogs are able to overwinter at the bottom of ponds where the water stays oxygenated. Others spend the winter on land, tucked under logs, stones, leaf litter or compost heaps.

When do common frogs spawn?

Very early — late winter or early spring, sometimes while ice is still present on the pond. Breeding is explosive, with many animals arriving at once, males calling with a soft purring croak, and spawn laid in large communal clumps in shallow water.

What do common frogs eat?

Adults take invertebrates — insects, slugs, snails, worms and spiders — caught with a fast flick of the tongue, and they generally respond to movement. Tadpoles start out mainly grazing algae and become more omnivorous and scavenging as they develop.

Sources and further reading

Authoritative wildlife references used for general educational context. Conservation status should always be verified against current IUCN Red List data. External links open in a new tab.

UniversityAnimal Diversity Web — Rana temporaria (common frog) — University of Michigan species account
UniversityAmphibiaWeb — University of California, Berkeley — Authoritative database of amphibian biology and conservation
Wildlife referenceIUCN Red List of Threatened Species — Authoritative source for current conservation status