Epidalea calamita has relatively short hind limbs and does not use the long saltatory leap typical of many anurans. It moves in short bursts of rapid walking and running, a gait sometimes described as mouse-like, and this is one of the most reliable field characters separating it from the common toad where the two overlap.
The habitat explains the pattern. Natterjacks occupy loose sand, dunes and heath, where a leap offers no advantage and burrowing into sand is the escape route. They dig using the hind feet and shelter below the surface by day.
Breeding is at the opposite extreme from the common toad. Natterjacks use very shallow, warm, sparsely vegetated pools that often dry within weeks, and their tadpoles are among the fastest developing of European amphibians, sometimes metamorphosing in under six weeks. The trade-off is high failure risk when pools dry early. The male's rasping call is loud for the animal's size and audible over a kilometre, which gives the species its name.