There’s a lot more to these shy, fabled creatures than meets the eye.
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While you might be excited to encounter a toad in your yard or the Missouri wilds, some people find the small, warty creatures to be a little creepy. In a number of primitive cultures, toads were considered magical. The mild mannered  amphibians featured prominently in South, North, and Meso-American Natives’ creation myths as a beast that succeeded where others failed — in some cases as a frightening, formidable force. In Asian mythology, toads held the secret to immortality, and Europeans in the Middle Ages associated the golden-eyed hoppers with witches and witchcraft.

The truth about toads
According to the National Wildlife Federation, 580 species of toads inhabit every continent but Antarctica, and of the 22 species native to the United States, four make themselves at home in Missouri. Before 2006, when scientists reordered their classification, the state’s four toad species were included in the genus Bufo, but now scientists classify them in the genus Anaxyrus, though this remains controversial with some herpetologists, or scientists who specialize in the study of reptiles and amphibians.
MDC’s Jeff Briggler is Missouri’s herpetologist. As such, he administers and coordinates surveys, research, and regulations as they apply to the state’s amphibians and reptiles. This includes monitoring the health and well-being of the state’s toad populations: the eastern American toad (A. americanus americanus), Fowler’s toad (A. fowleri), the rare Great Plains toad (A. cognatus), and Woodhouse’s toad (A. woodhousii). “Unlike frogs, toads are more adapted for land,” Briggler said. “They have long, slender toes that lack extensive webbing, and their warty skin helps them retain moisture.”
Toads, like other amphibians, do not drink with their mouths. Instead, they absorb moisture from the ground through a pelvic patch and store it in a lymph sac or bladder. The stored fluids are released when the toad becomes frightened, as most anyone who has picked up a toad can attest.

Harmless to humans, toxic to predators
During the day, toads are inactive and burrow underground in sand or soil, also hiding under organic litter, bark, partially buried logs, and rocks. They become active in the evening and during rains. This lack of daytime activity and their color camouflage are two of the toad’s defense mechanisms, along with their ability to puff themselves up to look more fearsome in the eyes of a predator. Toads also have a secret weapon that protects these otherwise harmless creatures from becoming another animal’s meal.
Kidney-shaped paratoid glands located behind toads’ eyes secrete a moderately potent toxin known as bufotoxin. The milky substance irritates the mucous membranes in predators’ mouths and can even cause death if an animal chooses to ignore the irritation and swallows the toad.
Contrary to popular folklore, toads do not cause warts, but because of bufotoxins, it’s a good idea to wash your hands after touching or holding a toad. “Many mammals won’t eat them,” Briggler said. “But raccoons can devastate toad populations when the toads are out calling at night. A raccoon will eat everything but the head, avoiding the bad-tasting paratoid glands, and can consume up to 20 or 30 toads in a night.” Briggler said toads also are a favorite food of hog-nosed snakes. A few other snake species, herons, and hawks also are known to prey on toads.

Friends of farmers and gardeners
Toads’ meal preferences include mosquitoes, ants, spiders, beetles, crickets, and locusts, as well as snails, cutworms, and earthworms — 10,000 or more in one season — making them great allies of farmers and gardeners.
Toads do not have teeth and must swallow prey whole. But toads’ tongues are attached in the front of their mouths where they are of no use in swallowing. This problem is solved by toads blinking their eyes when they snag a meal, which causes their eyeballs to roll into the roof of their mouth, pushing their prey into their throat, a characteristic shared with frogs.
Male toads woo potential mates with a long musical trill generated from an inflated vocal sac. They can sing alone, but in most cases large choruses can be heard at night. On occasion, they have been known to romance toads of other species. Although males are the most vocal, Briggler said even some female toads make chirping sounds when handled.
“Each of the species has a different calling time frame,” he said. “We train volunteers to record calling activities throughout the state. Some toads are restricted to specific parts of the state while others are statewide, and we collect information on population and distribution trends of these species along defined routes.”

They need wetland habitat to breed
The American toad can be found statewide, with one subspecies, A. a. americanus, inhabiting northern Missouri, and a second dwarf species living predominately in the southern half of the state. Both Fowler’s and Woodhouse’s toads typically prefer floodplain areas. Their habitats overlap to some extent, and it can often be difficult to distinguish between these two species. However, Briggler said Fowler’s toads prefer more upland habitat, especially in the Ozark Highlands.
“In Missouri, the Great Plains toad is found only in the Missouri River floodplain from Jefferson City to extreme northwestern corner and is a fairly rare species. We spend more time surveying for them to determine population status and distribution in the state. They are a species of conservation concern, due to limited distribution and habitat loss, but appear to be doing well in Missouri at this time,” Briggler said. “The biggest threat to Missouri toads is loss of habitat, especially temporary wetlands necessary for breeding.
“Toads breed and lay their eggs in wetlands, places like farm ponds, temporary pools, ditches, sewage lagoons, rain gardens, little creeks, and garden ponds,” he said. “They reach sexual maturity in two to three years with males reaching reproductive age before females.”
A female toad lays between 2,000 and 20,000 eggs. And unlike many frogs, which deposit their eggs singly or in masses, toads lay eggs in long strings. Most eggs hatch within a week, and the tiny, black tadpoles develop into toads that are ready to hop onto dry land in six to eight weeks.
“As with many species, there are good reproductive years and bad reproductive years for toads, dictated by weather conditions,” Briggler said. “When a ditch where eggs are laid dries up too quickly, the tadpoles die, but in wet years, many tadpoles survive to move onto land as tiny toads. Even though toads are known to lay thousands of eggs, typically less than 1 percent reach adulthood.”

Fun to observe, important to conserve
In addition to answering questions and tracking amphibian populations, one of the state herpetologist’s duties is to inform people of Missouri’s regulations as they pertain to the collection and possession of amphibians and their eggs. “If you are a Missouri resident, you can have up to five toads in your possession. We want people to be able to possess a few individuals in order to learn about their interesting behaviors, but at the same time to conserve natural populations in the wild,” Briggler said.
For those who want to watch tadpoles develop into toads, Briggler suggests feeding them a diet of cooked lettuce and spinach to keep them healthy as they develop.
“Personally, I encourage kids to keep a toad or two that they catch for a few days and then let them go where they captured them,” Briggler said. “Also, remember that toads, like many other small animals, are fragile and can often be squeezed too hard.
“Toads are popular as pets. They aresmall and relatively easy to maintain. But if you decide to have a toad as a pet, you should not feed it a one-item diet, like purchased worms or crickets. Feed items like grasshoppers, crickets, worms, and other bugs in the yard to build up the nutritional value of their diets,” Briggler said.
Toad lifespans range from five to 12 years in the wild, but there are instances of toads living much longer in captivity. “There’s a great fascination with toads,” Briggler said, acknowledging that part of their popularity is in response to the fact that they are easy to observe. “They were made for land and don’t move too quickly. Some people grow accustomed to seeing that little toad sitting there in the same spot every day.”

A guide to Missouri’s Toads
American toad (Anaxyrus americanus americanus)
Missouri range: Exists throughout the state; prefers rocky, wooded areas at forest edges
Size: 2 to 3 inches; females typically larger than males
Identifying characteristics

• Gray, light brown, or reddish-brown
• Dark spots on back may encircle from one to three warts
• Belly is cream-colored and mottled with dark gray

Sound: High-pitched musical trill lasting six to 30 seconds
Breeding: Late March, April, and early May

Fowler’s toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)
Missouri range: Found along many Ozark streams in most eastern and southern parts of the state on gravel bars and in sandy soil
Size: 2.5 to 4 inches
Identifying characteristics

• Gray, tan, brown, or greenish-gray color with paired dark markings, each with three or more warts
• Often a thin, white stripe down the back
• Belly is cream-colored
• May be a dark gray spot on the chest

Sound: Short nasal ”w-a-a-a-h” lasting from one to 2.5 seconds
Breeding: Late April to early June

Great Plains toad (Anaxyrus cognatus)
Missouri range: Floodplain of the Missouri River from central Missouri to the northwestern corner of the state; rare
Size: 2 to 3 inches; females larger than males
Identifying characteristics

• Skin covered with many small warts
• Large, dark brown, or green, paired blotches encircled by contrasting white or tan lines
• Cream-colored belly
• Exhibits a raised hump (known as a boss) between its eyes

Sound: Loud, rapid piercing, metallic, chugging “chee-ga, chee-ga, chee-ga” that lasts 20–50 seconds
Breeding: Mid-March to early June

Woodhouse’s toad (Anaxyrus woodhousii)
Missouri range: Mainly along the Missouri River floodplain and along streams in the western part of the state
Size: 2.5 to 4 inches, occasionally larger
Identifying characteristics

• Extremely variable — gray, greenish-gray, and tannishgray to brown
• Irregular dark markings with the number of warts in each varying from one to six
• White stripe often present down back
• White belly

Sound: Short, nasal “w-a-a-ah” lasting from one to 2.5 seconds
Breeding: April to June

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Compliments of Missouri Conservationist
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The lowly armadillo has finally arrived in Missouri. It has only taken several million years, but he made it.

And in case you did not know it, prior to the point in time when North and South America were linked by the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, there were no armadillos in North America; they only lived in South America.
But once that continental link was formed, roughly 2.8 million years ago, at least one species of armadillo — the nine-banded armadillo — packed its bags and headed north.

The nine-banded armadillo is about the size of a small dog with nine bands or rings of hard shell covering most of its body.   
It has a small head, beady eyes and claws on its feet. It would not win any beauty contests and looks prehistoric, if ever an animal looked prehistoric.

But it has an excellent nose and with the help of its claws for digging, manages to survive on a variety of plants and insects.
Surprisingly, the armadillo is a mammal, not a reptile. That means it breeds like all other mammals; frankly, I am not sure how they get the job done with both parties wearing a suit of armor but apparently they do.
Except for a presumed period of “courtship” during the mating season (which is also hard to imagine), the armadillo is a loner. Their lifespan is believed to be seven to ten years.

Although the armadillo looks slow, it actually can scoot around relatively fast when necessary. One commentator says they can travel 20 miles per hour but I doubt that the commentator actually used a stopwatch to confirm this.
The armadillo also has the ability to leap into the air three or four feet as a means of startling would-be predators. But perhaps the most intriguing thing about this ancient animal is its ability to cross bodies of water.

This can be done in one of two ways. First, it has the ability to hold its breath while it crosses a small stream under water.
Second, for crossing larger bodies of water, it can force large amounts of air into its lungs and intestines and then float across as if on an inflatable raft; the tail acts as a rudder and the feet do a dog paddle — pretty cool for a prehistoric animal, don’t you think?
But here is an even more important thing to know about the nine-banded armadillo: Some nine-banded armadillos are infected with “Hansen’s disease.”   

If that doesn’t get your attention, what if I told you “Hansen’s disease” is the politically correct name for leprosy?
Those of you who were alive in the 1940’s can probably remember as a child hearing ghastly tales about leprosy — the ancient disease that supposedly was highly infectious, incurable and perceived as God’s curse.

If you caught leprosy, it meant that you would spend the rest of your life secluded in a leper colony deep in the Louisiana swamps.
The reason why armadillos are susceptible to leprosy is because they normally have a much lower body temperature than other mammals, including humans.

The bacterium that causes leprosy thrives in this lower body temperature, which is believed to be 93 degrees.
Not all nine-banded armadillos have leprosy. Recent tests revealed that about 15% of the nine-banded armadillos in the United States currently have leprosy.

Interestingly enough, before Europeans immigrated to North and South America, it is thought that the armadillo did not have the disease, so it looks as though they got it from us rather than vise-versa.

Leprosy is no longer believed to be the highly contagious disease that it was once thought to be. Nor is it incurable despite the fact that there are 250,000 new cases per year world-wide. It is treatable with a specific antibiotic.
Nearly all of the new cases occur in India, China, Vietnam and parts of Africa, where the necessary antibiotic is unavailable.
In the United States, there are only about 150 new cases per year and many of these cases appear to involve people who had been exposed while traveling or living outside the United States.

As far as I can tell, very few people here gotten leprosy from roughhousing with an armadillo in the back yard or eating one at a church potluck.
Still, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) strongly recommends that people in the United States not handle armadillos or eat them.
Frankly, the risks of contracting leprosy are minimal. This is because most humans — perhaps 95% of us — are unlikely to contract the disease because of our genetic makeup.

Still, why take the chance by handling or eating an armadillo? Or to put it another way, would you really want it posted on your Facebook page that you have a “touch of leprosy”?

Unfortunately, the stigma of the disease is still with us even though the disease is treatable and not nearly as contagious as believed for centuries.
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Note: There really was a leper colony in rural Louisiana that operated from 1894 until 1999, when it was officially closed.
At the time of closure, there were still 20 residents, many of whom had lived there most of their lives almost in complete seclusion.
They did not want to leave — sadly, they had no family to go home to — and to this day, about 15 of those patients are still there living out their lives in solitude.

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​Compliments of River Hills Traveler.

Missouri’s biggest crayfish is table worthy.

They’re big, bold, and mostly unseen except to devoted followers of an Ozark dining delicacy. Meet the longpincered crayfish. What enables them to rule a watery world — their massive size — also makes them tasty table fare.

A Size Above the Rest
On a summer night, shine a flashlight down into Table Rock Lake’s shallow water and you may be startled by lobster-looking crayfish scurrying among the rocks. Many a youngster and grownup has turned over stones in a stream and carefully grabbed a 2- or 3-inch-long “crawdad” behind the head to avoid the pincers. So, in comparison, imagine seeing the longpincered crayfish that can be 6 inches long from tail to snout, plus its 3 inch pincers.
“I think they’re great,” said Bob DiStefano, an MDC resource scientist who has studied longpincered crayfish.
The crustacean that science knows as Faxonius longidigitus is Missouri’s largest crayfish and one of the nation’s largest. It is found only in streams in the White River basin and lakes such as Table Rock and Bull Shoals. Its long, slender pincers are bluish-green with yellowish knobs. The abdomen and carapace are olive tan with bright red spots.
“They’re a very cool species,” DiStefano said. “They’re pretty, they’re large, and they’re a little bit cantankerous. And they taste great.”

Trapped and Studied
MDC researchers have trapped crayfish for studies, and DiStefano has spent hours scuba diving in Table Rock Lake to watch them. Most crayfish are active only at night to avoid sight feeding predators. But he watched longpincered crayfish active in the daylight hours looking for food on the bottom where they live among the lake bed’s chunk rock.
“It made me think of them as the biggest, baddest dog on the block,” he said.
Studies showed crayfish avoid water with poor dissolved oxygen levels, DiStefano said. Researchers trapping crayfish found a higher abundance in shallow waters.
Longpincered crayfish were identified as a species and given a scientific name in 1898 by Walter Faxon, a bird and crayfish expert from Harvard University. Native Americans and pioneer settlers may have simply referred to them as the big ones that are good to eat once boiled and spiced. How common they were in the White River system and what changes lake construction brought in the 20th century is unknown. Lakes, however, certainly gave them more room to roam. MDC researchers trapping crayfish at Table Rock Lake found them more abundant in shallow waters if water temperatures and dissolved oxygen levels were favorable.
“We did better in gently sloping coves than off steeply sloping ledges,” DiStefano said.
The average size of longpincered crayfish collected from lakes was larger than those collected from rivers, he said. Perhaps food is more abundant in lakes, and maybe less predator pressure lets some grow longer and thus larger.
Longpincered crayfish can filter microrganisms from the water with their gills, grab fish or snails with their pincers, gnaw on dead fish or leaves, suck up algae, or perhaps even prey on other crayfish.
“Crayfish eat everything, and everything eats crayfish, ”biologists say of their important role in ecology.

Fine Dining
Everything that eats crayfish includes people. Like lobsters, most crayfish are cooked by dropping them live in boiling water with spices. Twist the tail meat open and you have a bite that’s  like shrimp or lobster. Some people also tear the tail off and suck the juices out of the thorax, “the tamale,” says MDC Education Specialist James Worley. He claims it has a liver-like flavor.
Most Missouri crayfish can be cooked and the tail meat eaten, though they can be small morsels and taste can vary. But a longpincered tail provides a big bite.
“They’re big enough that you can bust open the pincers and get a little piece of meat, too,” said Scott Crain, a Branson-area native and assistant manager at MDC’s Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery, who traps and cooks longpincered crayfish atTable Rock Lake. “That’s kind of a delicacy, eating that pincer meat.”
Crain’s family camps at Table Rock Lake, sets traps for longpincered crayfish, and dines on boiled crawfish they catch. Other Missouri families also trap them, as longpincered crayfish have a small but loyal regional following.
Longpincered crayfish as dining fare does not have a national reputation like the famous Cajun crayfish traditions from Louisiana. Crayfish cooking is also widely popular in the Pacific Northwest, DiStefano said. Scandinavian countries have centuries-old crayfish eating traditions and immigrants brought them to Wisconsin and a few other states.
Visitors from such places are often surprised by longpincered crayfish on display in aquariums at MDC’s Shepherd of the Hills Conservation Center near Table Rock Lake dam at Branson.
“We get people in from Louisiana, and they get really excited when we show them we have crayfish in the lake this big,” said Leah Eden, the center’s naturalist. “The most common comment is that they resemble a lobster because they’re so big.”

To Catch a Longpincered Crayfish
Before you can cook and eat crayfish, you have to catch them, and to do so you must possess a valid fishing license. Some people wade in rivers or the lakes and grab them by hand. Jay Heselton of Nixa likes to take his grandkids to the Finley River, a White River tributary, and catch longpincered crayfish while wading in the river.
“I like to go one on one with them,” Heselton said. But most people who catch enough longpincered crayfish to make a meal or to feed a group, trap them at Table Rock Lake. Most use wire mesh traps with bait inside, either homemade traps or those purchased from outdoor gear dealers. The trap entrance cannot be larger than 1.5 inches wide by 18 inches long, and the owner’s name and address must be attached. Conical openings allow crayfish to easily enter traps but make it hard for them to get out. They remain alive until cooked.
Since crayfish are scavengers and will follow scent to food, traps are often baited with dead nongame fish, raw chicken necks, or an open can of dog or cat food. Crayfish are more active at night, so traps are usually set by day left overnight, and checked the next day. A trapper who leaves a dead fish in a crayfish trap may return the next day to find fed crayfish and the skeleton of a fish cleaned down to bare bone.
Traps are placed on the lake bottom. Often at Table Rock, they are tied onto boat docks. But Crain also uses floats to mark and retrieve traps. The limit is 150 crayfish per angler per day.
“We typically leave traps 24 hours before we run and retrieve,” Crain said. “I’ll have two or three traps in 12feet of water, two or three down 20 feet, and a couple in between. When you run them, you’ll have a couple of traps that won’t have very many crayfish in them and some with 12 or 15.”
Crain notes locations on the lake at night where lights reveal them darting about on the bottom. “You see them everywhere at night,” he said. “Their little eyes shine like diamonds in the light.”

How to Prepare Longpincered Crayfish
Crain prefers to cook 35 or 40 longpincered crayfish to make a meal for one or two people. However, 75 or 80 crayfish make a better mess when the whole family is at the table. His family often collects crayfish for several days, putting them in a plastic kiddie swimming pool with salted tap water. This purges the crayfishes’ digestive system to provide cleaner taste. Some people do the purge in coolers or some type of aerated container. It’s important to keep the crayfish alive.
Crain brings water in a pot to a boil and cooks corn on the cob and potatoes for about 20 minutes. Then he puts the crayfish in for 4 to 5 minutes. The commercial crab boil seasonings, sold in local grocery stores, work fine for cooking crayfish. Seasonings help dictate flavor. “Some people have a little melted butter with garlic on the side to dip them in,” he said.
Like a Louisiana crayfish boil, the cooks often spread some paper on a table and dump the crayfish, potatoes, and corn out in a pile. Diners dig in. Crain likes to have small forks and a tool to crack the pincers open. “It’s a lot of fun,” he said.
Longpincered crayfish are one of nature’s miracles. They are a unique species, evolved over millions of years, and capable of growing twice as large as the next biggest Missouri crayfish. They are an underutilized fishery available to outdoor enthusiasts, especially in the lakes, DiStefano said.
“I have no qualms whatsoever that the population could withstand greater harvest and not be affected,” he said. Among their many talents, “crayfish are very prolific breeders as long as we maintain good water quality and habitat.”

Crayfish: Variety in Missouri’s Waterways
You want variety? Check out Missouri’s 36 species of crayfish. These crustaceans help clean our waterways by eating dead things and serve as a key food source for fish and other predators. They come in assorted sizes and colors and their quintessential pincers come in different shapes. For example, the Neosho midget crayfish only tops out at 2 inches long but has broad, powerful pincers, while the longpincered crayfish has slender 3-inch pincers. Some crayfish blend into their surroundings with camouflage color patterns, while the red swamp crawfish is dark red. Eight species are unique to Missouri and another dozen only share limited ranges in other states.
Crayfish have sci-fi movie-worthy bodies with walking legs, front legs with little pincers, protruding eyes, long antennae, and muscular tails with fans that can flip them quickly from one spot to another. Some species only live in specialized habitats, such as caves or mud burrows. Others prefer ponds, lakes, or rivers with specific water qualities. They’re part of both prairie and forest ecology.
Some crayfish species, however, are rare in Missouri due to a limited range or threats from pollution or invasive species. Twenty-one species are of conservation concern. Don’t dump or move live crayfish — it is illegal to transport and release crayfish into another water body. That regulation protects native crayfish species from being displaced by invaders. MDC offers a free publication, A Guide to Missouri’s Crayfishes, with tips on crayfish conservation and ecology, and color photographs of common or interesting species. 

A guide to Missouri’s Crayfishes
For more on Missouri crayfish, visit short.mdc.mo.gov/ZTt.

Hot or Cold, Crayfish is a Delight
​Missouri’s crayfish, also called crawdads or mud bugs, can be cooked and served in a variety of ways, hot or cold. But some preparation steps are common to all dishes.
Use only live, freshly caught crayfish. Some cooks keep them in a container of clean water, or perhaps lightly salted water, prior to cooking for a few days to purge their intestinal system. Keep cooked crayfish chilled until used. The tail meat is what is used in most recipes. Even Missouri’s smaller crayfish can provide a tasty tail meat bite if prepared well.
A simple way to cook crayfish is dropping them into boiling water along with a crab boil seasoning mix. Peel the tail meat out of the shell and eat them like shrimp. However, there’s more than one way to enliven your crawdad dining. Tail meat can be added to spicy Cajun recipes, mixed in salads, added to a rice pilaf, sealed in a pastry, spiced to personal tastes, or frozen for a future hors d’oeuvre serving.
For crayfish etouffee, saute three large onions finely chopped in one stick of butter. Add crayfish fat from the body cavity and cook over low heat until the fat comes to the top. Add tail meat and season to taste. Mix in enough hot water to bring the etouffee to desired consistency, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add parsley and serve over steaming hot rice. Serves 5 to 6. Scandinavian countries have a long crayfish cooking tradition. Author Bernadette Dryden provided a simple Swedish-style boiled crayfish (kokta kräftor) recipe in her MDC cookbook, Cooking Wild in Missouri. She obtained the recipe from Gunilla Murphy, a native of Sweden and the wife of Missouri Conservation Commissioner Dave Murphy
Bring 2¾ quarts of water, 1/2 cup of salt, and lots of fresh dill crowns to a boil. Add 2 pounds (about 25) of fresh, live crayfish. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes after the water returns to a boil. Let the crayfish cool in the liquid. The crayfish can also be frozen in the liquid, and when ready to eat, defrost and serve very cold. You’ll find more crayfish recipes at short.mdc.mo.gov/Z3U.

​Compliments of Missouri Conservationist Magazine.