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Mating is the first activity after winter sleep In the month of April 2019 when I saw the tadpole I got to know from the experts that they were tadpoles of Himalayan Toad and fortunately I got the opportunity to visit the same place in the month of March 2020 (first week) where I saw this beautiful pair in its mating position and already laying-off eggs in tube-like structure (I will make another post showing that structure). What I was wondering then was this species is another wonder as melting of snow and ice was a very recent phenomenon on this study site and they immediately after coming out of their hibernation start mating as soon as possible so that there can be new generations doing the same next year and year next to that. It would be so interesting if I could document their winter sleep.<br /> <br /> Image of their eggs in tubes : <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94116/egg_sac_of_endemic_himalayan_toad.html" title="egg sac of endemic Himalayan Toad"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/1843/94116_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=CuwnNKo2Q4eisKQOpOJURPFNd3g%3D" width="200" height="126" alt="egg sac of endemic Himalayan Toad As I said in my Himalayan Toad species intro post, that I will be posting egg and then tadpole image, here am adding egg stage today. So I made a collage showing freshly laid eggs in tubes on a bed of algae and besides that image there is an another image showing older tube carrying eggs. As it gets old the transparency of the tube is affected by many environmental factors and in a way such covering in dust and turbidity provides them safety against the predators is what I assumed as the eggs are less visible in this form. Also yes, one last comment on it is these tubes were not very small to ignore and longest I saw was almost 2 meters long!!! So this was from my visit in the month of March 2020 (first week to be very specific)<br /> Image of adult mating : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94026/mating_is_the_first_activity_after_winter_sleep.html<br /> Tadpoles: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94286/ready_for_metamorphosis.html Abhijeet Jagtap,Abhijeet Ramesh Jagtap,AmphibiansOfIndia,Chamba,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,Geotagged,Himachal Pradesh,HimachalPradesh,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,IndianAmphibians,Toad,abhitap,abhitap1991" /></a></figure><br /> <br /> Tadpoles : <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94286/ready_for_metamorphosis.html" title="Ready for metamorphosis"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/1843/94286_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=%2B%2FpV4AVQaChr53Lkk1Zexf1Z14s%3D" width="200" height="134" alt="Ready for metamorphosis These are the tadpoles of the Himalayan Toad I posted earlier. These tadpoles after a month or two will start metamorphosis to become an adult toad. Considering the timeline of the events, this is my first sighting of this species which happened in April 2019 and then this year in the first week of March I saw a mating pair and their egg sacs. In the puddles around the streams I saw these tadpoles in thousands and am not exaggerating!!! No one knows about how many of these thousands of tadpoles would reach adulthood to survive snowfall and then reproduce again...<br /> 1. Adult Toads: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94026/mating_is_the_first_activity_after_winter_sleep.html<br /> 2. Egg sac: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94116/egg_sac_of_endemic_himalayan_toad.html Abhijeet Jagtap,Abhijeet Ramesh Jagtap,Chamba,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,FrogsOfIndia,Geotagged,Himachal,Himachal Pradesh,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,IndianFrogs,IndianToads,Ravi River,Spring,ToadsOfIndia,abhitap,abhitap1991" /></a></figure> Duttaphrynus,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,Frogs of India,Geotagged,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,Indian Frogs,Nikon,Nikon D5600,Tamron,Tamron AF 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD MACRO 1:2,Toad,Winter Click/tap to enlarge PromotedSpecies introCountry intro

Mating is the first activity after winter sleep

In the month of April 2019 when I saw the tadpole I got to know from the experts that they were tadpoles of Himalayan Toad and fortunately I got the opportunity to visit the same place in the month of March 2020 (first week) where I saw this beautiful pair in its mating position and already laying-off eggs in tube-like structure (I will make another post showing that structure). What I was wondering then was this species is another wonder as melting of snow and ice was a very recent phenomenon on this study site and they immediately after coming out of their hibernation start mating as soon as possible so that there can be new generations doing the same next year and year next to that. It would be so interesting if I could document their winter sleep.

Image of their eggs in tubes :

egg sac of endemic Himalayan Toad As I said in my Himalayan Toad species intro post, that I will be posting egg and then tadpole image, here am adding egg stage today. So I made a collage showing freshly laid eggs in tubes on a bed of algae and besides that image there is an another image showing older tube carrying eggs. As it gets old the transparency of the tube is affected by many environmental factors and in a way such covering in dust and turbidity provides them safety against the predators is what I assumed as the eggs are less visible in this form. Also yes, one last comment on it is these tubes were not very small to ignore and longest I saw was almost 2 meters long!!! So this was from my visit in the month of March 2020 (first week to be very specific)<br /> Image of adult mating : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94026/mating_is_the_first_activity_after_winter_sleep.html<br /> Tadpoles: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94286/ready_for_metamorphosis.html Abhijeet Jagtap,Abhijeet Ramesh Jagtap,AmphibiansOfIndia,Chamba,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,Geotagged,Himachal Pradesh,HimachalPradesh,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,IndianAmphibians,Toad,abhitap,abhitap1991


Tadpoles :
Ready for metamorphosis These are the tadpoles of the Himalayan Toad I posted earlier. These tadpoles after a month or two will start metamorphosis to become an adult toad. Considering the timeline of the events, this is my first sighting of this species which happened in April 2019 and then this year in the first week of March I saw a mating pair and their egg sacs. In the puddles around the streams I saw these tadpoles in thousands and am not exaggerating!!! No one knows about how many of these thousands of tadpoles would reach adulthood to survive snowfall and then reproduce again...<br /> 1. Adult Toads: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94026/mating_is_the_first_activity_after_winter_sleep.html<br /> 2. Egg sac: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/94116/egg_sac_of_endemic_himalayan_toad.html Abhijeet Jagtap,Abhijeet Ramesh Jagtap,Chamba,Duttaphrynus himalayanus,FrogsOfIndia,Geotagged,Himachal,Himachal Pradesh,Himalayan,Himalayan toad,Incredible India,IncredibleIndia,India,IndianFrogs,IndianToads,Ravi River,Spring,ToadsOfIndia,abhitap,abhitap1991

    comments (2)

  1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Fantastic post, Abhitap, your Himalayan coverage is invaluable, and your posts rich and detailed, keep up the good work. Posted 5 years ago
    1. View abhitap's profile
      abhitap
      Lion
      View Lion class
      Thanks ferdy!! I hope to get more such assignments in order to document more of biodiversity from India. Posted 5 years ago

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The Himalayan toad

The Himalayan toad is a species of toad that is widely distributed throughout the Himalayan mountains. The Yunnanese populations are sometimes considered a separate species, ''Duttaphrynus cyphosus''.

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Similar species: Frogs
Species identified by abhitap
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By abhitap

All rights reserved
Uploaded May 10, 2020. Captured Mar 2, 2020 11:08 in Unnamed Road, Hartwas, Himachal Pradesh 176316, India.
country flag of India Explore India 5,169 1,362 0
  • NIKON D5600
  • f/7.1
  • 1/320s
  • ISO160
  • 70mm
Captured in the winter. More winter photos.

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