It owes its name to the light dorsal stripe along the spine - "of the cross". They can also be easily recognized by the way they move around - natterjack toads(Epidalea calamita) do not hop, because they have too short legs for that. They scurry across the ground like mice. Their lemon-yellow eyes with horizontal-oval pupils are conspicuous. Only at dusk and during the night they come out of their hiding places. From May it is mating season - then the males can be heard with their creaking calls over several hundred meters.

On the Tyrolean Lech wild river, the natterjack toad mainly inhabits small bodies of water, puddles and ruts in sparse floodplain forest. Here it finds the only natural habitat for itself. It also seeks out gravel pits and quarries as habitats if it cannot find natural sites on unimproved rivers with high dynamics and open, sandy areas.

The natterjack toad is acutely threatened with extinction! That is why the Tyrolean Lech Nature Park has launched a species protection project.