Common Name: California Red-legged Frog
Scientific Name: Rana aurora draytonii
Status: Threatened
Federal Register: 61 FR 25832 (April 23, 1996)
Comments: Made famous in Mark Twain's short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," the California red-legged frog
lives in coastal drainages from Central California to Baja. Identified in the mid-1800s, it is the
largest native frog in the western United States, measuring 1.5 to 5.1 inches in length.
It enjoys deep-water areas such as pools, marshes and riverbeds with dense vegetation — e.g., cattails and overhanging
willows. Locally, its habitat includes
the Piru Creek area, which extends from its headwaters at Frazier Mountain (near Frazier Park) southward to Lake Piru, above
the town of the same name in Ventura County. The habitat extends eastward just beyond Interstate 5, northwest of Castaic Lake.
