Frog spawn
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Elen Sentier
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
That's early! We used to put some in a fish bowl and let the tadpoles grow into little frogs. Really cool to see first backlegs than frontlegs than the tail dissappears. We fed them cucumbers. (We did release them when they had all there paws as they would just escape anyway.)
Yours are very early, our ponds and burns are still iced up. Kind of hopeful though that Spring is coming 
We used to keep tadpoles too Niels, they lived in a fish bowl on top of a bookcase......then they changed and we got up one morning to find the cats going nuts trying to catch over a dozen baby frogs jumping about the living room
cheers,
Toddy
We used to keep tadpoles too Niels, they lived in a fish bowl on top of a bookcase......then they changed and we got up one morning to find the cats going nuts trying to catch over a dozen baby frogs jumping about the living room
cheers,
Toddy
Very early indeed.
Frogs & toads are a fascinating analogy showing in part the evolution of advanced organisms on this planet from the primitive aquatic stage to when animals first started to leave the water & colonise the land.
External fertilisation of the eggs in water, (The cell division & later development of the black embyro can be seen with the naked eye). when the tadpoles emerge they have external gills (primitive) then transform those into internal gills & later on develope lungs. At first after breaking free from the timed decomposition of the Jellified egg coverings they will feed on their egg sacs.........Then will start off as vegetarians & after 6 weeks or so will completely transform their digestive tracts & become carnivores. Now from being a basic fish like organism, all be it with some advanced technology, they start to grow legs. Both front & back legs grow at the same time but the front legs grow under the skin to maintain the taddy's hydrodynamics until they are fully formed, then will burst out. The tadpoles at this stage, in natural conditions, will start to hang around in the shallows preparing for their ultimate evolutionary miracle...............during the last week of their development, they will reabsorb their tails ( they can't eat as thier mouth & jaws are undergoing a transformation ) then on D-day will moult ( on shedding their tadpole suits they become perfect little frogs) & leave their watery nursery to go & explore the land.
Phew!!!! I don't know about you guys but seeing millions & millions of years of evolution when a frog starts it's existance as a primitive aquatic larvae with external gills into an advanced four legged, lung breathing terrestrial vertibrate just blows me away...............& in only 3 months ( depending on temperature of course)
Incidently tadpoles have a chemical weapon 'up their sleeves' so to speak. When the earliest of them start to transform into carnivores & there isn't sufficient meat available, they will release a stress hormone into the water which will inhibite the development of the later emerged tadpoles,(in stagnant water, rivers are a different matter) who will complete their cycle the following year should they survive. When meat is in shortage, dead fish etc. they are capable of transforming into pack hunters & will gang up & devour fish, water snails or even other tadpoles depending on what's available. Devour is prehaps too strong a word as they only have small mouths a rasp like teeth so prehaps 'scraping' would be a better term. the result is the same though.
Hopefully you'll see frogs & toads in a different light from now on.
Frogs & toads are a fascinating analogy showing in part the evolution of advanced organisms on this planet from the primitive aquatic stage to when animals first started to leave the water & colonise the land.
External fertilisation of the eggs in water, (The cell division & later development of the black embyro can be seen with the naked eye). when the tadpoles emerge they have external gills (primitive) then transform those into internal gills & later on develope lungs. At first after breaking free from the timed decomposition of the Jellified egg coverings they will feed on their egg sacs.........Then will start off as vegetarians & after 6 weeks or so will completely transform their digestive tracts & become carnivores. Now from being a basic fish like organism, all be it with some advanced technology, they start to grow legs. Both front & back legs grow at the same time but the front legs grow under the skin to maintain the taddy's hydrodynamics until they are fully formed, then will burst out. The tadpoles at this stage, in natural conditions, will start to hang around in the shallows preparing for their ultimate evolutionary miracle...............during the last week of their development, they will reabsorb their tails ( they can't eat as thier mouth & jaws are undergoing a transformation ) then on D-day will moult ( on shedding their tadpole suits they become perfect little frogs) & leave their watery nursery to go & explore the land.
Phew!!!! I don't know about you guys but seeing millions & millions of years of evolution when a frog starts it's existance as a primitive aquatic larvae with external gills into an advanced four legged, lung breathing terrestrial vertibrate just blows me away...............& in only 3 months ( depending on temperature of course)
Incidently tadpoles have a chemical weapon 'up their sleeves' so to speak. When the earliest of them start to transform into carnivores & there isn't sufficient meat available, they will release a stress hormone into the water which will inhibite the development of the later emerged tadpoles,(in stagnant water, rivers are a different matter) who will complete their cycle the following year should they survive. When meat is in shortage, dead fish etc. they are capable of transforming into pack hunters & will gang up & devour fish, water snails or even other tadpoles depending on what's available. Devour is prehaps too strong a word as they only have small mouths a rasp like teeth so prehaps 'scraping' would be a better term.
the result is the same though.Hopefully you'll see frogs & toads in a different light from now on.
Very early indeed.
Frogs & toads are a fascinating analogy showing in part the evolution of advanced organisms on this planet from the primitive aquatic stage to when animals first started to leave the water & colonise the land.
External fertilisation of the eggs in water, (The cell division & later development of the black embyro can be seen with the naked eye). when the tadpoles emerge they have external gills (primitive) then transform those into internal gills & later on develope lungs. At first after breaking free from the timed decomposition of the Jellified egg coverings they will feed on their egg sacs.........Then will start off as vegetarians & after 6 weeks or so will completely transform their digestive tracts & become carnivores. Now from being a basic fish like organism, all be it with some advanced technology, they start to grow legs. Both front & back legs grow at the same time but the front legs grow under the skin to maintain the taddy's hydrodynamics until they are fully formed, then will burst out. The tadpoles at this stage, in natural conditions, will start to hang around in the shallows preparing for their ultimate evolutionary miracle...............during the last week of their development, they will reabsorb their tails ( they can't eat as thier mouth & jaws are undergoing a transformation ) then on D-day will moult ( on shedding their tadpole suits they become perfect little frogs) & leave their watery nursery to go & explore the land.
Phew!!!! I don't know about you guys but seeing millions & millions of years of evolution when a frog starts it's existance as a primitive aquatic larvae with external gills into an advanced four legged, lung breathing terrestrial vertibrate just blows me away...............& in only 3 months ( depending on temperature of course)
Incidently tadpoles have a chemical weapon 'up their sleeves' so to speak. When the earliest of them start to transform into carnivores & there isn't sufficient meat available, they will release a stress hormone into the water which will inhibite the development of the later emerged tadpoles,(in stagnant water, rivers are a different matter) who will complete their cycle the following year should they survive. When meat is in shortage, dead fish etc. they are capable of transforming into pack hunters & will gang up & devour fish, water snails or even other tadpoles depending on what's available. Devour is prehaps too strong a word as they only have small mouths a rasp like teeth so prehaps 'scraping' would be a better term.
Hopefully you'll see frogs & toads in a different light from now on.
That's bloody excellent that is.
I shall forever remember this.
Very early indeed.
Frogs & toads are a fascinating analogy showing in part the evolution of advanced organisms on this planet from the primitive aquatic stage to when animals first started to leave the water & colonise the land.
External fertilisation of the eggs in water, (The cell division & later development of the black embyro can be seen with the naked eye). when the tadpoles emerge they have external gills (primitive) then transform those into internal gills & later on develope lungs. At first after breaking free from the timed decomposition of the Jellified egg coverings they will feed on their egg sacs.........Then will start off as vegetarians & after 6 weeks or so will completely transform their digestive tracts & become carnivores. Now from being a basic fish like organism, all be it with some advanced technology, they start to grow legs. Both front & back legs grow at the same time but the front legs grow under the skin to maintain the taddy's hydrodynamics until they are fully formed, then will burst out. The tadpoles at this stage, in natural conditions, will start to hang around in the shallows preparing for their ultimate evolutionary miracle...............during the last week of their development, they will reabsorb their tails ( they can't eat as thier mouth & jaws are undergoing a transformation ) then on D-day will moult ( on shedding their tadpole suits they become perfect little frogs) & leave their watery nursery to go & explore the land.
Phew!!!! I don't know about you guys but seeing millions & millions of years of evolution when a frog starts it's existance as a primitive aquatic larvae with external gills into an advanced four legged, lung breathing terrestrial vertibrate just blows me away...............& in only 3 months ( depending on temperature of course)
Incidently tadpoles have a chemical weapon 'up their sleeves' so to speak. When the earliest of them start to transform into carnivores & there isn't sufficient meat available, they will release a stress hormone into the water which will inhibite the development of the later emerged tadpoles,(in stagnant water, rivers are a different matter) who will complete their cycle the following year should they survive. When meat is in shortage, dead fish etc. they are capable of transforming into pack hunters & will gang up & devour fish, water snails or even other tadpoles depending on what's available. Devour is prehaps too strong a word as they only have small mouths a rasp like teeth so prehaps 'scraping' would be a better term.
Hopefully you'll see frogs & toads in a different light from now on.
Wow, I didn't even know frogs were carnivores let alone that they can do such complicated things
Are you showing us that you're a Sun reader or have you kidnapped the spawn & hoping for a ransom ?
TurboGirl
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Wow, thats early! I wonder if they'll survive... my ponds stil iced too but the rampant water frenzy of breeding is one of the best harbingers of spring
One year, we found loads of frogs- about a dozen- half eaten, half alive, spread around the pond, I wondered if the lurking hedgepig was responsible. The following year we built an extension and a load fell into the foundations after the concrete was laid... the water in there must have been ludicrously alkaline because in the morning when we found them, they were stiff as statues but still alive and able to move their heads, I felt awful guilty...
:sad6:
They're amazingly resiliant little evolutions!
One year, we found loads of frogs- about a dozen- half eaten, half alive, spread around the pond, I wondered if the lurking hedgepig was responsible. The following year we built an extension and a load fell into the foundations after the concrete was laid... the water in there must have been ludicrously alkaline because in the morning when we found them, they were stiff as statues but still alive and able to move their heads, I felt awful guilty...
:sad6:
They're amazingly resiliant little evolutions!
Are you showing us that you're a Sun reader or have you kidnapped the spawn & hoping for a ransom ?
Twas the only thing I had with a date on it 
