Great Basin Spadefoot Toad

By Juliana Kaufmanis

The great basin spadefoot toad is a threatened animal and is on the blue list in British Columbia. The blue list signifies that a creature is vulnerable especially to human actions. It could soon become endangered and from there extirpated and even from there extinct in its only habitat in the Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada.

 http://www.humboldt.edu/~rap1/Herps/Frogs/

The great basin spadefoot toad is a nocturnal animal that got its name from the spade (a hard extension used for digging) on one of its toes on each hind foot. When scared, it can bury itself underground in just minutes. It can live up to eight months underground! This amphibian has a lumpy texture and is brown to olive green. It hibernates in the winter in burrows. It has light coloured stripes and the average adult is four to six centimetres in length. Pretty tiny don’t you think?

The great basin spadefoot toad lives in the Okanagan, in southcentral British Columbia, an extremely large tourist attraction, and also an area with only nine percent of its habitat remaining undisturbed. People are trying to protect the remaining habitat; although numbers of animals are quickly declining.