🐸 Tadpole
A tadpole is the early life stage (larva) of frogs and toads—basically a baby amphibian before it becomes an adult.
🧠 What a tadpole looks like
- Long tail
- Small, rounded body
- No legs at first
- Lives entirely in water
- Breathes using gills (like a fish)
🔄 Life cycle (metamorphosis)
Tadpoles go through a fascinating transformation:
- Eggs hatch into tadpoles
- They grow hind legs, then front legs
- Lungs develop, gills disappear
- Tail shrinks
- Becomes an adult frog or toad
This process is called Metamorphosis.
🍃 What they eat
- Mostly algae and plant matter
- Some species eat tiny organisms
🌿 Where they live
- Ponds, lakes, slow streams, puddles
- Need water to survive during this stage
💡 Interesting fact
As they grow, tadpoles switch from gills to lungs, meaning they go from breathing underwater to breathing air—one of nature’s coolest transformations.
If you want, I can show a step-by-step visual timeline of a tadpole turning into a frog.
