Home > Animals > Interesting Facts > Swiss Army Skin

Swiss Army Skin

By: staff   Date: 04/4/2018

Amphibian skin is not covered in hair, feathers, or scales. It is thin and permeable, which allows them to actually breathe and drink through their skin! Their skin is not watertight, but they have mucous glands that produce secretions to help keep them from drying out Their skin also serves as a handy defense mechanism: nearly all amphibians have poison glands that make their skin toxic - and on top of that, it can even serve as a tasty treat after they shed it (yes, many amphibians eat their own sloughed off skin)!

Related Amphibians

(Rana sphenocephala)

(Gastrotheca cornuta)

(Salamandra salamandra)

(Xenopus laevis)

Other Amphibians Facts
An Ample Amphibian

Before reptiles and mammals appeared to challenge amphibian supremacy on the land, amphibians were much larger. But while…
Learn more >>

Caecilians: The Limbless Enigma

Caecilians are amphibians with long, limbless bodies that resemble worms or snakes more than frogs or salamanders. Their…
Learn more >>

Make sure you retract your eyes 30 times before swallowing!

It has long been known that Frogs retract their eyes and close them while eating, leading scientists to suspect that frogs…
Learn more >>

Only a Mother’s Love…

We are taught that toads leave their fertilized eggs in the water in long strings, which hatch into tadpoles, who live…
Learn more >>

Interesting Animal Facts

Many people associate playing dead with the opossum - that’s where the term “playing opossum” comes from, after…


Amphibian skin is not covered in hair, feathers, or scales. It is thin and permeable, which allows them to actually breathe…


The Greenland Sleeper Shark, the only living species of sub-Arctic shark, is an apex predator only slightly smaller than…


Caecilians are amphibians with long, limbless bodies that resemble worms or snakes more than frogs or salamanders. Their…


If a defining trait of mammals is that they give live birth to their young, how do you explain monotremes? Monotremes…


We are taught that toads leave their fertilized eggs in the water in long strings, which hatch into tadpoles, who live…


NAIA - National Animal Interest Alliance Discover Animals is a web-based educational resource offered by the NAIA
To learn more about the NAIA or about other NAIA programs, visit us at www.NAIAOnline.org
if you would like to help, join or support the NAIA or any of its programs please click here >>