American Bullfrog

The American bullfrog is a large, robust frog native to much of eastern and central North America, the largest frog species on the continent, named for its deep, resonant, bellowing call that resembles the sound of a bull and can be heard carrying across ponds and wetlands on summer nights. It has smooth green-to-brown skin and powerful hind legs, and it is an aggressive, opportunistic predator with an unusually broad diet for a frog, eating insects, fish, other frogs, small snakes, birds and even small mammals that it can overpower and swallow whole. American bullfrogs favor permanent bodies of still or slow-moving water such as ponds, lakes and marshes, where tadpoles can take a year or more to fully metamorphose into adults. Widely introduced outside its native range for food and the pet trade, the species has become a highly damaging invasive predator in many regions, including the western United States, Europe and parts of Asia, where it preys heavily on native amphibians and other wildlife.