Cope’s gray treefrog is 1.25-2 inches (3.2-5.1 cm) in length. It can range in color from a mottled gray to brown to green, depending on its environment. It tends to become darker when it is cold or dark.
Its coloring helps it blend in with tree bark. It has light-colored spots under its eyes and bright yellow-orange on the underside of its thighs. Like the gray treefrog, it can change its color in seconds. It has large, sticky toe pads that help it cling to tree bark and other surfaces.
Cope’s gray treefrog lives in woodlands, grasslands, prairies, meadows, fields, and swamps. It is rarely seen on the ground. It is usually found perched on a tree or shrub.
Cope’s gray treefrog finds its prey in trees and shrubs. It eats moths, ants, flies, grasshoppers, tree crickets, and beetles.
Breeding season runs from April to July. Males gather in vegetation in and near breeding ponds and call out to the females. When the male attracts a female, he comes down from his perch to mate.
The female lays as many as 2,000 eggs in groups of 10-40 eggs. The eggs are attached to vegetation in the water. The tadpoles hatch in four or five days and change into froglets in about two months.
Cope’s gray treefrog is nocturnal (active at night). It spends the day resting in trees and shrubs. At night, it crawls among the branches and leaves looking for food. It usually only comes out of the trees and bushes during the breeding season and in the winter. It hibernates under leaves, bark, or rocks on the forest floor.
Cope’s gray treefrog freezes in the winter. It produces large amounts of glycerol. The glycerol changes to glucose and circulates through the frog’s cells. Glucose acts like antifreeze, preventing ice crystals from forming in the frog’s cells. If ice crystals formed in the cells, they would rip the cells apart and kill the frog.
The rest of the water and blood in the frog’s body then freeze, and its heartbeat and breathing stop. When the temperature warms up, the treefrog “thaws out” and returns to the trees.
Cope’s gray treefrog and the gray treefrog look exactly alike. You can tell them apart by their calls. The gray treefrog’s slower trill is more musical than Cope’s treefrog call.
The gray treefrog is also a bit larger than the Cope’s gray treefrog and has bumpier skin. Scientists can distinguish between the two species because the gray treefrog has twice as many chromosomes as Cope’s gray treefrog.
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Cope’s gray treefrog is found in New Hampshire.
Cope’s gray treefrog is found from Manitoba east to Maine and south to northern Florida and central Texas.
