- During the month of March, while out walking, Ms Healy saw some frog spawn in a ditch near the local bog. Some of this frogspawn was collected in a jar, and Ms. Healy watched the progress over the last few weeks. The tadpoles were moved into a large fish tank in which there was water which was collected from the ditch. This water was topped-up regularly with harvested rain water, especially during the dry weather. It was very interesting to watch the tadpoles develop and change. This process is called metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis is the change of shape during an animal’s life. During metamorphosis the tadpole will develop back legs first, then front legs. After around six weeks of life the tadpole's mouth starts to widen. Sometime around 10 weeks the eyes of the froglet, as it is now called, start to bulge out and the its tail begins to shrink. The tail eventually disappears. When the lungs finish developing the froglet makes its way onto the land and, ta-da it’s a frog!
Many of these froglets are eaten by predators such as hedgehogs, foxes, herons and other birds, before they are fully grown. In winter frogs hibernate, under tree stumps, in compost heaps, in stacks of logs, in leaf piles or in rock piles where they enter torpor (sleep) until the following spring.
The tadpoles and froglets in this video were released back to the place from where they had been collected, to begin their lives for the next seven to eight years. Who knows maybe we will meet them again in the future!
To watch video please follow the link;
https://youtu.be/HfkDgHbLu3Y
