Product identifies frogs and toads

RALEIGH -- Identifying frogs and toads correctly takes a good pair of eyes and ears. To help people identify and learn more about the frogs and toads calling from the woods, around ponds and wetlands and in their backyards, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has available a new educational product, The Frogs and Toads of North Carolina Field Guide and Recorded Calls.

The 88-page field guide with CD, which sells for $15, features audio calls and 120 full-color photographs that illustrate the 30 frog and toad species native to North Carolina. Detailed descriptions of each species simplify identification and range maps identify where they are found in the state.

Michael Dorcas, associate professor of biology at Davidson College and a herpetologist, co-wrote the book with Jeff Beane, collections manager with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, Steven Price, a research coordinator with Davidson College Herpetology Lab, and Sarah Cross Owen, a former herpetologist with the Wildlife Resources Commission.

To purchase the guide, visit www.ncwildlife.org or mail a check or money order, no cash, to N.C. Wild Store, 1710 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1710.