Do Frogs Really Sit on Lily Pads?

A frog at rest or alert to approaching prey will be still. The frog is capable of sitting perfectly still for hours on end, only to suddenly lunge for an unsuspecting insect. When a frog is resting or hunting, he will sit on whatever is handy. A lily pad will work just fine, as long as the frog isn't too heavy for the plant to hold him.

If a pond has water lily leaves floating in it and they are the closest available perch, frogs will climb up on them readily. However, if the frog is heavy, the leaf will sink beneath him a little bit, enabling the frog to keep his skin moist in the water while still perching on the submerged leaf. Water lilies have upturned edges that help them to stay afloat even with a slight weight on them.

Frogs like to sit in the sun part of each day; they will pick a place away from the water where they can bask in a nice patch of sunlight. They sit on rocks, patches of dirt, tree stumps, concrete paths, driveways and city streets -- wherever the sun is shining. The sun, however, will dry out frogs' skin, which needs to be moist for them to breathe, so they will also sit in shady places.

In a healthy pond, the water is dark with algae. This prohibits viewing the bottom of the pond. For this reason, some people believe that lily pads are floating leaves. Actually, that's only the part of the plant that's above water. The leaves attach to 4-foot-long stems connected to the plant growing on the bottom of the pond. These stems and the water's surface stability make the pads strong enough to carry a frog.