A Closer Look: A Frog’s Life Cycle

Many plants and animals call ponds home. Frogs are special because they live part of their lives in the water of the pond and part on land.

A frog begins its life cycle as an egg. A mother frog lays eggs in the pond. After a few days, tadpoles come out of the eggs. The tadpoles have long tails and no legs. They look like little fish and breathe through gills. Slowly, the tadpoles grow legs and lungs. Finally, the tadpoles lose their gills and tails and hop onto land as adult frogs. Soon, the cycle will begin again.

Cycle organizers are one way of showing something that happens over and over again. In this cycle chart, we see the stages, or steps, in a frog’s life.
Cycle organizers are one way of showing something that happens over and over again. In this cycle chart, we see the stages, or steps, in a frog’s life.View Larger Image
(frog) © www.istockphoto.com/Jozsef Szasz-Fabian; (eggs) © www.istockphoto.com/Darcy Stuart; (tadpole) © www.istockphoto.com/Thomas Mounsey; (frog with legs) © www.istockphoto.com/Ron Brancato; (froglet) © www.istockphoto.com/Morley Read