By Mike Isbell
University of Georgia

“You need to hear this frog,” the caller said. “I’ve never heard
one make a sound like this.”

I’m always interested in strange things in nature. Maybe this
frog was something special. I decided to check it out.

Bill met me out in the yard of the old frame house. We walked
over to a 5-gallon bucket he had out under a huge shade tree.
Inside the bucket was the frog. After a few misses, Bill
retrieved the frog from the bucket.

The big bullfrog Bill was holding was a good 5 inches long, and
that didn’t include its legs. Bill placed the frog on the ground
and began to rub its back. The old frog raised itself off the
ground and arched its back, like a bow, and began to emit a very
unfroglike sound.

Just like a cat

Darned if it didn’t sound just like a cat. And a very mad cat at
that.

Now, I’m no frog expert, but I told Bill I suspected the cat
sound the frog was making was probably a cry of distress because
it was caught. I told him I would try to confirm my suspicion
with someone who’s an expert.

“I don’t guess we need to contact ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not’
just yet, huh?” Bill said jokingly.

“No, I wouldn’t just yet,” I said.

Toads and frogs

Toads and frogs range from just above the Arctic Circle to just
about the southern tips of Africa, Australia and South America
and on many islands, including New Zealand. They’re the most
widely distributed of all the amphibians.

The typical toad has warty skin and short legs for hopping, while
the typical frog has smooth skin and long legs for leaping. But
there are no hard-and-fast rules for distinguishing a toad from a
frog.

Bullfrogs prefer larger bodies of water than most other frogs.
You can find them in lakes, ponds and sluggish streams. You can
usually see them along the water’s edge or amid the vegetation
where they can hide.

‘Jug-o’-rum’

Their deep, soothing, “jug-o’-rum” sound is what you would expect
from bullfrogs.

My research on frog sounds led me to Whit Gibbons in Aiken, S.C.
Whit’s a reptilian and amphibian expert.

He confirmed my suspicion that the sound was a distress cry of
the frog. Whit said it’s a sound some bullfrogs will make in
response to a predator. He didn’t know if all bullfrogs make it
or just certain frogs.

But evidently it’s rare to hear one.

A bullfrog that sounds like a cat. Isn’t that the frog’s meow!

(Mike Isbell is the Heard County Extension Coordinator with
the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.)