[Dailydrool] Frog/toad question

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

It's my understanding that toads (don't know about frogs) are able to  
secrete a liquid that tastes really bad to other animals. It's an  
effective toad survival mechanism. When we lived in the soybean  
fields of northwestern Indiana, we'd get a lot of toads stuck in our  
window wells. I'd go out every day and rescue them, and most of them  
would spurt a clear, watery liquid all over my hands. It was like  
getting peed on. I sniffed my hands several times but couldn't smell  
anything at all, bad or otherwise. When I'd hold a toad out to show  
our Jane Basset and tell her to see how pretty the toad's eyes were,  
she'd kind of wrinkle up her nose and back away. This was a dog who  
loved to catch and eat grasshoppers while they were still alive and  
couldn't wait to get out in the morning to chase the gophers and poke  
her nose down their holes. But she wouldn't go near a toad. We didn't  
have frogs so I couldn't test them on her.

Elizabeth