Wyoming Toad
The Wyoming Toad is among North America’s rarest amphibians and is not a casual roadside find.
Artwork inspired by Carl Rungius
For Wyoming Toad (Anaxyrus baxteri), record the whole form before isolating details. For Wyoming Toad, use “body proportions, movement, and posture” for the first hypothesis and “shallow wetlands, pond margins, and wet meadows in the Laramie Basin” for confirmation.
Place the sighting of Wyoming Toad in context by recording “shallow wetlands, pond margins, and wet meadows in the Laramie Basin” and “May through September, with calling and breeding most likely in late spring and early summer”. For Wyoming Toad, the detail “Emerges after spring warming; adults forage mostly at night and breed in shallow water during early summer” makes the observation easier to check.
- Range
- Laramie Basin endemic
- Federal status
- Endangered
- Threats
- Disease and habitat loss
Quick guide
- Read the form
- body proportions, movement, and posture
- Cross-check
- shallow wetlands, pond margins, and wet meadows in the Laramie Basin; context: shallow wetlands, pond margins, and wet meadows in the Laramie Basin
Recognize responsibly
- Begin with structure
- Begin with body proportions, movement, and posture.
- Challenge the first impression
- After the overall form, confirm shallow wetlands, pond margins, and wet meadows in the Laramie Basin.
- Check when and where
- Search shallow wetlands, pond margins, and wet meadows in the Laramie Basin, using habitat as supporting evidence rather than proof by itself.
- Keep behavior natural
- Leave Wyoming Toad and its habitat exactly as found.
Good to know
For Wyoming Toad, repeated quiet observation from one position generally reveals more diagnostic information than following, handling, or repositioning the subject.
Notice these
- A small, stocky toad with a warty back, dark blotches, and a pale mid-dorsal line that may be faint
- shallow wetlands, pond margins, and wet meadows in the Laramie Basin
- Emerges after spring warming; adults forage mostly at night and breed in shallow water during early summer.