
Toad Migration Featured in
The explanation is simple: German toads, who are awakened in the dark woods by mild weather, start their travelling season to the closest lakes and ponds to lay their eggs. Female toads can travel 5 km to a lake carrying up to ten potential husbands on their back.
The long-distance night migration is perfect for toads during rainy weather and temperatures around 7°C.
But their journey to the beach is quite dangerous because of the frequent road crossing. Critical road sections are usually interspersed with barriers and fences during migration periods to prevent toads from being run over. Conservationists even put buckets every few meters along the barrier to collect little travellers and to rescue them from unsafe crossing. Twice a day the buckets are usually emptied on the other side of the road.