Frog ‒ Life Cycle

The life of a frog starts with the development of a fertilised egg.

The fertilised egg usually presents a clear appearance with a distinctive darker mass in the middle – cells that start to multiply forming the future embryo.

The embryo evolves as organs and structures such as gills start to grow.

Now with a distinctive head and a tail which allows it to move, the embryo breaks free of the egg and is officially a larva.

At this stage, the larvae are known as 'tadpoles' or 'pollywogs.' They breathe through their gills and begin to feed as they develop simple toothless mouth parts that are adapted to eat almost every type of organic material.



As the tadpole increases in size, it enters then so called “Metamorphosis” phase when it undergoes near total transformation!

During this stage, you can see the development of hind legs and lungs. The gills and gill pouch disappear and the front legs become visible days after. The lower jaw transforms into a big mandible or jaw bone. The nervous system develops and the eyes are repositioned higher up on the head as eyelids and associated glands are formed. Skin becomes thicker and tougher and skin glands are developed. Finally the tail is absorbed into the body.

The organism is now semi-aquatic, breathing air and depending only on moisture.