Frog Life Cycle

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name's Tim Cole. I'm with the Austin Reptile Service. I've been keeping reptiles and amphibians for over forty years. We're going to talk about the life cycle of a frog. First thing you might want to ask is "How do we know if it's frog eggs or toad eggs?" Well, toad eggs are laid in a string, frog eggs are laid in a cluster or a mass. And the first thing that happens is the tadpoles hatch from the eggs. And then the tadpoles will start feeding on algae and other plants. And the first thing that happens is the rear legs will come out. And then after the rear legs, the front legs come out. And then the tail starts to disappear, and the tadpoles will show more interest in feeding on other animals. It's not unusual for a frog tadpole to feed on another tadpole. And as the tail starts to disappear and gets shorter and shorter, they spend more time getting out on land. And eventually when they crawl out on land they have just a little bit of a tail left, and their metamorphosis is done."