Five legged toad found in Notts

[Frog News]

BBC News (London, UK) July 6th, 2010 12:50 AM: Five legged toad found in Notts

A five legged toad has been discovered at Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottinghamshire.
Full Article

[John]

You've got to hand it to the BBC. Yet again they put some one up on a pedestal as an expert, who obviously doesn't know his posterior from his face. A simple search of the Internet would have told the editor in charge that deformities like this most commonly occur due to injuries to young frogs, resulting in growth of a second appendage where there should only be one, and that it's not very unusual, even in pristine environments. This is just the latest in a string of amphibian related articles on the BBC news web site that has erroneous info or embarrassing input from would-be experts. I'm forced to wonder if the BBC would know an expert human being from a 5-legged toad.

[WeR1Spirit]

I thought 5-legged frogs/toads were not too uncommon. My son found one yesterday in a swampy greenbelt area in Orange County, California. Since they're thought to occur when flatworm parasites attach to developing polliwogs, I wouldn't think that finding one would get as much press as this UK toad and the one found a few weeks ago in Pennsylvania. Here's the one my son found.