May 5-11, 2024 is marked "Amphibians Awareness Week". Mykolaiv Zoo joins this important ecological and educational campaign and offers you interesting facts about amphibians.

Fact five: amphibians of the fauna of Ukraine.

In the fauna of Ukraine, there is a relatively small number of these animals, only two dozen species of amphibians. Among them are representatives of tailless amphibians (frogs, toads, tree frogs) and tailed amphibians (salamanders and newts).

Some of them are spread throughout the territory of Ukraine. Among amphibians, three species can be considered cosmopolitan within the borders of our country – a marsh frog, a European green toad, and a garlic toad. They are distributed almost throughout Ukraine, with the exception of the garlic toad, which avoids mountainous areas.

The largest species diversity of amphibians is observed in the Carpathians and forest regions of Ukraine, or in other words, in areas with the largest amount of annual precipitation and relative air humidity. In arid steppe regions, especially on the Left Bank, the amphibian fauna is sharply depleted, and terrestrial amphibians (European green toad and garlic toad) lead an almost exclusively nocturnal lifestyle and are found in more or less humid places – along river valleys, near water bodies, among forest and meadow vegetation, as well as in settlements (parks, gardens, orchards, etc.). As a result of the arid climate and island isolation, the amphibian fauna of the Crimean Peninsula is quite poor.

A significant part of the amphibians living on the territory of Ukraine are rare, listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. Among them are such interesting species of amphibians as the yellow-bellied toad, fire salamander, Carpathian and Danube newts and many other animals.