Couch's Spadefoot Toad

- Couch's Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus Couchii) is a highly specialized desert amphibian native to southern Arizona that spends up to 10 months of the year dormant underground
- They are famous for emerging en masse immediately following the first heavy summer monsoon rains
- They feature a hard, black, keratinized sickle-shaped wedge on their hind feet used to dig backward into loose soil
- A single spadefoot can eat enough termites, beetles, and ants in one night to survive an entire year
- Unlike true toads, spadefoots possess brilliant golden eyes with vertical, cat-like pupils