Car detour lets baby toads cross the road
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Detour lets baby toads cross the road in Philly
With the help of a detour set up along a busy street in Philadelphia, thousands of toadlets now have a much better chance of surviving the journey to their natural habitat. (June 12)
AP
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It's rush hour in Philadelphia for thousands of baby toads as they hop across a busy residential street on a rainy summer night.
Why do toadlets cross the road? To get to the woods on the other side — where they will live, eat mosquitoes and grow up to be full-sized American toads (bufo Americanus). After a couple of years, they'll make the reverse trek as adults — unless they get squashed by a car.
That's where the Toad Detour comes in.
The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education sets up a roadblock each year in the Roxborough neighborhood, rerouting cars so the amphibians can cross the two-lane street without fear of, um, croaking.
Watch the video to see the great baby toad migration.