There is something magical about hearing the first spring peepers waking up after a long and cold winter. The endless chorus throughout spring and summer is an indication of Michigan’s 13 species of frogs and toads as they wake up from hibernation. Swarming ponds, lakes, streams and wetlands, these precious amphibians are looking for a place to mate and live. Frogs and toads are also great companions for your yard and garden. They eat pests like beetles, cutworms and slugs and are an important food source for a variety of other animals including herons, mink, foxes and fish. Frogs and toads have highly permeable skin that allows liquids and gases to pass through easily. This makes them particularly sensitive to pollution, especially when developing from tadpoles to adults. Chemicals found in their environment like fertilizers, weed and pest killers, and detergents can be absorbed into their bodies and cause deformities like a lack of eyes, malformed legs and in some cases death. Due to pollution, loss of habitat and disease, amphibians are the most endangered group of wildlife on earth, with one-third to potentially half of amphibian species worldwide at risk of extinction. Michigan has four rare or declining frog and toad species.