Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Frog Report


All frogs have different colours and shapes. Having weird habits too. If you are interested in finding out more, keep reading. 

Frogs are amphibians. Cold- blooded vertebrate animals to be exact. Unlike reptiles, frogs do not have scales and most frogs lay their eggs in the water. 

Commonly frogs are found at ponds, swamps or slow moving water. Some frogs live on the damp ground of rain forests, others live in moist places. These amphibians live in wet areas because their skin may become dry and they will die. 

Short body, smooth moist skin, bulging eyes and no neck, these things are common to all frogs. Their bulging eyes are used to look for food and spot their enemies. Using their eyes they can see up, down and sideways, all at the same time!

In a frog’s life cycle, frogs must mate first. Afterwards, the female lays her eggs (up to 50 000 for some species ). Frog eggs are like little dark specks enclosed with a ball of clear jelly. Sticking the eggs together is what the sticky jelly does. This jelly soon swells, causing the egg cluster to float to the surface of the water (frogs spawn is what this floating mass is called). Often the frog’s spawn gets caught in pond weeds, where it can stay warmed by the sun. 2 weeks or 1 week later the eggs hatch into tadpoles

Tadpoles are Herbivores with a tail, and they have no eyes or mouth. A few weeks later they get bigger. 12 weeks later the tadpoles develop eyes and they get a mouth, their tail has shortened too. At this stage they are called Froglets.

When they become fully grown frogs they mate once again, then the life cycle starts all over again. Did you know a Frog mates at the age of 3!? Crazy right! 

Instead of being Herbivores like tadpoles, a grown frog becomes a carnivore. This means they eat meat. Meat such as: small insects, fruit flies, wood louses and crickets. 

Hibernation is something frogs do in Winter. They can sleep in cracks, logs, underground, rocky areas and in burrows (for some). Sleeping until Spring, the frogs finally awake for the warm atmosphere. 

Enemies are really threatening to people but luckily frogs are able to trick their enemies even though they have many. Their predators include snakes, birds, turtles, hedgehogs, raccoons and lizards. Just like us, Frogs are able to multiple so that means it’ll  take a long time for them to be extinct. 

Frogs are the weirdest amphibians I know! But, hey, you can’t blame them for being like this. It’s just how life is.

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