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 and shows you which species of amphibians you can see in our exposition.

Fact three: feeding of amphibians.

All modern amphibians in the imago stage, that is, an adult, sexually mature individual, are predators, feeding on small animals (mainly insects and invertebrates), capable of cannibalism. There are no herbivores among amphibians due to extremely slow metabolism. The diet of aquatic species can include young fish, and the largest amphibians can hunt the chicks of waterfowl and small rodents that have fallen into the water.

The nature of the nutrition of the larvae of tailed amphibians is practically similar to the nutrition of adult animals. Tailless larvae have a cardinal difference, feeding on plant food and detritus, turning to predation only at the end of the larval stage.

In the photo: an axolotl – a neotenic ambystoma larva (Ambystoma mexicanum) in the exhibit of Mykolaiv Zoo.