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Frog or Toad?
- brudgers 2y agoA cheatsheet? https://aqua.org/stories/2023-09-27-mistaken-identities-frogs-vs-toads https://aqua.org/stories/2023-09-27-mistaken-identities-frog...
- JohnMakin 2y agoTaxonomically there is no rule about the differences between toad/frog. Generally “frogs” are considered to be more aquatic than toads, but I’m pretty sure the naming is not entirely consistent amongst species. Funny game, it definitely throws some hard ones at you.
- jna_sh 2y agoThat is very much the intent of the game! Frog vs toad is what's known as "folk taxonomy", taxonomy based on people's informal observations and characterisations, and not on the principles of scientific taxonomy. There's a lot of common everyday examples of folk taxonomy that people don't realise aren't "scientific", and are very confident about, and the progression of species in this game was intended to really poke at what people know makes a frog and a toad.
- rsynnott 2y ago> It is a toad skinned frog (Walkerana phynoderma) Oh, come on, that's not fair.
- AndrewOMartin 2y ago> It is a Darien stubfoot toad OR Toad Mountain harlequin frog (Atelopus certus) I think the unfairness is the USP!
- ecjhdnc2025 2y agoThis is somehow fantastically entertaining. Well done.
- marssaxman 2y agoI suppose I had never really thought about the difference between a frog and a toad, and after playing this game, it is clear that I have absolutely no idea what it might be.
- unclad5968 2y agoThat's the point of the game. There is no taxonomic difference.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoI love how the first two make you over-confident and then wham, you're lucky to get much above 50%.
- Euphorbium 2y agoI think I got much less than 50%.
- krater23 2y agoI failed on calibration...
- jna_sh 2y agoHi there! I'm the creator of this game, happy to answer any questions people might have. This is a total surprise, thanks so much for playing!
- outsidetheparty 2y agoThis is a good thing you made, and you should feel good about it
- jna_sh 2y agoThis was really lovely to say, thank you!
- District5524 2y agoThanks for the game! It is a very entertaining and is highly educational, probably thanks to the pictures ... And a good way to show us fascinating species (like the purple frog) that we would otherwise not bother to look up. Except for the most abundant species available in Europe, it seems quite unlikely that people would be willing to give these species "common names" in English. This does not decrease the value of the game at all, but it is perhaps a tad misleading what the objective is: are we to guess a) whether a particular specie is named as a "frog" or "toad" in its common name (folk taxonomy) or b) where they belong in taxonomy (is it a Bufonidae or not)? If we go for a), that is perhaps not as exciting to show species endemic to places without tons of native English speakers (like Thailand etc.). But this does not decrease from the value of the game at all. I think it shows a very efficient approach to gamify and teach taxonomy to people. Would it be of any use to show a success rate indicator perhaps or a feedback whether the guess was correct or not?
- jna_sh 2y agoThanks so much for the kind words and thoughtful comment. Regarding the objective, it's targeting the most common understanding of "frog" and "toad", which for most people will be folk taxonomy, and they probably aren't aware that there's not a scientific taxonomic distinction. So from your list, I think most people will approach it as option "a". However you might be happy to know that when selecting species, there's a couple that are in there because they belong to taxa that contain both "frogs" and "toads", so "b" would be quite difficult! In that it goes for "a", it's really intended to show that folk taxonomy, like most ways people categorise things, works until it doesn't. Really important to me to note that it's not trying to favour "scientific" taxonomy over folk, though. There's evidence that practicing folk taxonomy, by observing and categorising what you see in nature around you, helps build connectedness with nature, which has a lot of benefits, and making people aware of folk taxonomy as a thing that they contribute to is the ultimate objective.
- dvh 2y agoThere are only 2 toads. Green and brown. Everything else is frog.
- xivzgrev 2y agothere were more toads than that. but i noticed there were more frogs than toads. so if you just keep hitting frog, you should score over 50% (though there is no score displayed at the end), which was better than my "informed" guessing
- Scarblac 2y agoNice collection of species! I think the Suriname frog (toad?) is my favourite.
- outsidetheparty 2y agoMy guesses were so consistently wrong that I at first thought the site was making up frog/toad names based on the opposite of my answer. Then I guessed "toad" for what turned out to be "a false toad (Telmatobufo bullocki)" and my head exploded a bit
- LastTrain 2y ago[flagged]
- standardUser 2y agoWe're obviously not training it on the correct answers, like with those grid images where we identify the motorcycle, so are you suggesting this model is in search of data around how inaccurate people are when guessing between frog and toad?
- fragmede 2y agothat's not happening here
- tromp 2y agoReminds me of one of my favorite Seinfeld clips "Frog is Wrong" [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0MtSBKgUNk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0MtSBKgUNk
- Terr_ 2y agoI feel this is a vindication of the Frog And Toad books by Arnold Lobel: It makes perfect sense for them to happily cohabitate. :p
- rzzzt 2y agoThey are even running a startup together: https://medium.com/frog-and-toad-are-cofounders/technical-debt-c228faf7bc0f https://medium.com/frog-and-toad-are-cofounders/technical-de...
- Modified3019 2y agoRight up there with “Butterfly or Moth”
- grishka 2y agoMy own assumption is that frogs are thinner, with finer lines in the shapes of their bodies, while toads are large, wide, and beefy with short legs. So that's how I made my choices. Wrong choices.
- xanderlewis 2y agoI played this for a couple of minutes, foolishly thinking I’d be quite good, before exclaiming ‘oh, what the hell is the difference!?’ and quitting it in frustration.
- qq66 2y agoI thought I was starting to figure it out then I selected "toad" and was told it was a "toad-skinned frog" FML
- AbraKdabra 2y agoI thought there was an alternative to Toad, the Oracle development software lol.
- gary_0 2y agoThe toad's abode is by the road The frog's abode is boggy That is why the toad seems dry And why the frog is soggy. - Jack Prelutsky
- apantel 2y ago> it is a toad skinned frog Throws phone on the floor and goes outside.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y agoI have never felt so cheated playing a game. Somehow it's even worse because they don't tell you your score.
- lostmsu 2y agoCrocodile or Alligator?