Pelophylax ridibundus
Silhouette: T137 · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) is a species of water frog native to Europe and parts of western Asia. The first scientific description of the marsh frog was published in 1771 and written by Prussian zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who gave it the scientific name Rana ridibunda after collecting specimens of it during an expedition through the Russian Empire. Pallas did not precisely specify the type locality (where he found the frogs), only noting it as "versus mare Caspium; Volgae et Iaico" (opposite to the Caspian Sea, Volga, and on the Yaik River). A more precise location of "Gurjew" on the north coast of the Caspian Sea (now the city of Atyrau in Kazakhstan) was given in a 1928 publication written by German herpetologists Robert Mertens and Lorenz Müller. However, a 1994 paper by herpetologists Alain Dubois and Annemarie Ohler noted that because Pallas never designated a holotype specimen, a neotype needs to be selected for the species. The restriction of the type locality done by Mertens and Müller is therefore invalid unless a specimen from Atyrau is designated as the neotype, which Dubois and Ohler suggest should be done... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 2 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 3 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Aquarium du palais de la Porte Dorée | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Zoo d'Amiens | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Knuthenborg Safaripark | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 5 | Zoo de La Flèche | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Ljubljana Zoo | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 7 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 8 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 9 | Animal - Bird Collection | 🇬🇷 Greece | |
| 10 | The Fenn Bell Conservation Project | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 11 | Lake Tisza Ecocentre | 🇭🇺 Hungary |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Marsh Frog sighting in Cévennes National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 11th most-seen of the 11 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Marsh Frog in Cévennes National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, July and October–March, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Marsh Frog sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Marsh Frog sightings, Cévennes National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatia, about 40%) and Hortobágy National Park (Hungary, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Marsh Frog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Cévennes National Park (9 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
