During February and March, volunteers head out after dark with buckets and florescent jackets to stand on roads across the UK. These are the toad patrols, and they help an amphibian with love on its mind.
Early spring is the start of the breeding season for common toads (Bufo bufo to scientists). A warm, wet evening is the perfect cue for males to embark for a pond where they hope to find a mate. Females usually arrive a few weeks later, but they only stay long enough to mate and spawn.
Males, who outnumber the females, must engage in gladiator-style battles to win mates. In one pond scientists studied in Sweden, there were four males for every female. The scientists reported intense competition, with only 20.5% of males breeding successfully. The male grabs hold of the female for several days, and as the female begins laying eggs, he fertilises them. Toads lay a long double string of eggs that are black in colour, unlike the mass of eggs laid by frogs.
