YOMIURI SHIMBUN (Tokyo, Japan) 21 March 08 Japan's giant toads are more than mere fantasy (Kevin Short)
Once upon a time, there lived in the Echigo region (now Niigata Prefecture) a samurai who loved nothing better than to go fishing in the mountains. Every morning he would hike up one of the pristine streams that rushed in torrents down the slopes. All day long the samurai sat on the rocks at his favorite spot, and contentedly dangled his hook and line into the crystal-clear waters.
One day, no matter how carefully he fished, the samurai had no luck at all, so he decided to hike upstream and look for a new spot. Higher and higher he climbed, until finally he found a bumpy rock that looked like a perfect spot. The samurai had just settled down and was getting ready to drop his line, when another man appeared suddenly on the other side of the stream. The man seemed to be terrified of something.
"Hurry!" The man shouted "Run for your life!" Then the man began leaping and jumping back down the river.
At first the samurai thought the man must be crazy. But soon he began to get an eerie feeling himself. The samurai packed up his fishing rod and started down the mountain. As he turned around for one last look at the big, bumpy rock, he saw to his horror a pair of red glowing eyes staring back at him. Suddenly a huge mouth opened and a long tongue flicked out, just missing him. Then the rock just stood up and walked away on two legs!
Without knowing it, the samurai had been fishing on the back of an ogama, a giant toad! He was lucky to have escaped with his life!
Giant toads are spirit creatures, or yokai, that live along beautiful streams high up in the mountains. According to legend, they can open their mouth and breathe out a great rainbow. Any bird or insect touched by the rainbow slides right down into the toad's hungry mouth. These toads can stand up and walk on their two hind legs, and are so strong they even eat snakes!
These huge toads have also been observed in the mountains of the Suo region of Yamaguchi Prefecture, where their heights have been estimated at eight shaku, or about 240 centimeters. Although no actual specimens have ever been obtained, an excellent sketch has been left us in the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari, a magnificent treatise on spirit creatures compiled in 1841 by Takehara Shunsen.
From the warts and markings shown in the sketch, the ogama seems to be closely related to the very common Japanese toad (Bufo japonicus). Although much smaller than their giant cousins, these toads are still quite big by normal standards, measuring up to 15 centimeters in body length. Biologists usually divide them into eastern (Bufo japonicus formosus or azuma hiki-gaeru) and western (Bufo japonicus japonicus, or Nihon hiki-gaeru) subspecies.
The ogama may seem fantastic, but even regular toads are weird creatures. Compared to their sleek cousins the frogs, toads are fat and sluggish. Their backs are usually covered with rough warts. Frogs zip around in long jumps, but toads prefer a slow walk, although when pressed they can execute short hops.
Japanese toads inhabit woodlands and bamboo groves, and are also common around shrines, temples and farmhouses. They are ambush-style hunters that lie in wait for spiders, ground-beetles, earthworms, potato bugs and any other small ground-crawling creature. Even when a potential victim passes within striking range they do not leap out or give chase, but simply zap it with a long, sticky tongue. Perhaps it was this deadly weapon that in the Giant Toad evolved into the even deadlier rainbow breath.
Toads are too slow to flee from predators. The giant toad has no natural enemies, but smaller species are easy targets for small animals like snakes, weasels, dogs and cats. Even these little toads, however, have a secret weapon for protecting themselves.
Arranged along the back of the toad are two parallel rows of tiny openings called the parotoid glands. When faced with danger, the toad squirts from these glands a milky liquid. This excretion contains powerful poisons, called bufotoxins, which can cause death if squirted into the mouth of a small animal.
Right now is the breeding season for Japanese toads. Males arise from their winter's sleep and collect by the dozens in shallow ponds and ditches. When a female arrives, the males initiate a spectacular free-for-all wrestling match, which the Japanese call kaeru-gassen ("frog-battle" but which biologists term "scramble competition."
A male grabs the female around her waist and tries desperately to hang on while fending off multiple rivals bent on dislodging him. The various kicks and throws used by the combatants easily qualify them for WWE professional wrestler status. The males also have special hard callouses, called nuptial pads, on the tips of their front fingers. These pads help the male retain his grip on the female.
A wrestling match can go on for several days, until the female is ready to release her eggs. Fertilization takes place outside the female's body. Males squirt their sperm over the eggs as they emerge. The female also secretes a jellylike chemical substance that surrounds and protects the eggs. The spawn is produced in the form of long, thin gelatinous rope, which may be several meters long, and contain several thousand eggs.
In favorable breeding grounds the water becomes clogged with toadspawn. A few weeks later the tiny black tadpoles will appear, which will stay in the water until early summer, when they change into baby toads and come crawling out en masse.
Hikers in the mountains should never approach a giant toad. The common Japanese Toad may be picked up for close examination, but be sure to wash your hands thoroughly afterward.
Japan's giant toads are more than mere fantasy