The Cape Sand Toad (Vandijkophrynus angusticeps) is a species of toad in the Bufonidae family (true toads). It is endemic to the south-western coastal sand flats and sandy mountain tops, mostly in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, from Van Rhynsdorp south to Cape Town and east to around the Gouritz River, with an isolated population around Cape St Francis in the Eastern Cape Province. It is common in West Coast sandveld, on the Cape Flats and around Cape Agulhas. Elsewhere it is uncommon or rare. Its natural habitats are small freshwater pools and streams in lowland and montane fynbos (Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation) on sandy soils. It is threatened by habitat loss and climate change particularly in coastal areas.
Famous quotes containing the words sand and/or toad:
“But the twelve lie in the sand by the dry rock
Seeing nothing—the sand, the tree, rocks
Without number—and turn away the face
To the mind’s briefer and more desert place.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“We were watched. I didn’t see anything, I felt it, in my stomach. I was a toad on a wet rock. A snake was looking at my back.”
—John Paxton (1911–1985)