Thursday, August 6, 2015

Lubbock Local Wildlife: Tadpole Update and DUH!!!

This week, the tadpole went from two legs...

...to four legs.
 
The transformation been much slower with this little guy than with the previous tadpoles, but the front legs did appear in a single day.

This is Peggy, the three-footed leopard frog.
 
Peggy came from Mr. Aquarium where she started as a tadpole. She transformed into a frog there, jumped into a koi tank, and lost a foot. She's not a great jumper, but she gets around just fine and loves a good cricket or ten.
 
All along, I have thought that the tadpoles from Clapp Park were a local variation of a leopard frog, but (I know you are stunned to hear this) I was wrong.

This is Ribbert.
 
You may recognize him from earlier posts. (Or not.) He loves a good cricket or twenty - quite the appetite. He is also very skittish. I have been using his image to try to identify which type of leopard frog he is, but I could not find him anywhere until I broadened my search. It turns out that he is a local variation of bullfrog. This explains why the tadpoles have taken so long to transform - bullfrog tadpoles generally take two years to metamorph into their adult state.

This is Kylie.
 
You may recognize her from an earlier post as well. (Or not.) She could care less about frogs, tadpoles, and lots of other things. She loves a good teaspoon of peanut butter or twenty and she loves relaxing on the couch.
 
May you find the answer to your mysteries and get over it when you are wrong. Better yet, may you be like Kylie and not be bothered by such trivia.

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