TADPOLE LIFE CYCLE

FERTILIZATION

• During amplexus the female discharges eggs -- usually into water -- while the male sheds sperms over the eggs.

FROG EGGS

• Some frogs don't need much water when they mate. Sometimes a little rain pooled in a curled leaf is all that's needed for a female to deposit her eggs there. When a frog's eggs first make contact with water their protective layers of jelly soak up the water and swell, forming a jelly-like blob.

TADPOLE

• Tadpole also called a polliwog: The tadpole begins as a single cell organism inside the egg. It survives on the yolk inside the egg. While in the egg, the cells begin to divide over and over until you have a small tadpole that will hatch out of the egg around six to 21 days after the egg was fertilized.

GROWING TADPOLE

• Around six to nine weeks, the tadpole will become longer and will start to develop a head and the legs of a frog. These legs start out as bulges in the front and back of the tadpole. The tail shortens more and more as the tadpole develops.

FROGLET

• Between nine and 12 weeks after hatching, the tadpole has lost most of its tail and has developed a tongue with which the froglet frog will use to eat insects! The tadpole is now almost a full grown frog and will spend time out of the water.

FROG

• When the frog is around 12 to 16 weeks, you will now see a fully metamorphosed frog

METAMORPHOSIS

• Metamorphosis is the process of changing from a tadpole to a frog. Frogs live predominately on land and breathe air through lungs. However, many frogs still like to swim! Now the mature frog can mate and/or lay eggs and the process will begin again

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