THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE FROG

In early Spring adult frogs wake up from their long Winter sleep and start making their way to breeding pools. Some frogs can travel as far as one mile to the pond which is a long distance if all you can do is hop or crawl. When the frogs reach the pond, breeding begins with the male croaking loudly to attract the female.
 
 
 

The female releases the eggs into the water.
 

JELLY BABIES

The eggs or frogspawn are surrounded by jelly, which absorbs water, swells up, and floats to the surface of the pond where the sun warms it. One clump of frogspawn can contain up to 4,000 eggs.
 

TADPOLE TERRORS

After about 10 days a tadpole wriggles out of each egg. At first the tadpole breathes and moves like a fish, using its gills and long tail, but after about five weeks the gills disappear and the tadpole develops lungs. It then has to swim to the surface of the water to gulp air. The tadpole has fleshy lips with rows of teeth for rasping away at water plants and by seven weeks it also eats insects and even other tadpoles.

 
 

FROGLET

By eight weeks the back legs have formed and by ten to eleven weeks the front legs have also appeared. At twelve to fourteen weeks the tail disappears and the tiny froglet is ready to leave the water. it will take three years before the froglet reaches maturity and the cycle starts all over again.
 

This info taken from  indigo.ie/~ipcc/lifecycle.html
 

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Copyright © Irish Peatland Conservation Council 1996