Sunday, April 11, 2010

Tadpoles



Recently my husband, Guy, and I rescued a dozen or so tadpoles from a rain-filled, mostly empty fountain. Of course there is no such thing as a free pet. Off we went to the pet store to purchase a small tank and aquatic plants for food. The tadpoles were only about 1/4" long when we first got them. A couple weeks later and they're twice the size.

We've enjoyed watching them scurry around, twitching their "tails" to move. We're also excited about witnessing their transformation from tadpole to frog. It's an almost unbelievable metamorphosis, going from breathing in water to breathing air, trading gills for lungs, growing legs and hopping out of the tank. From egg to tadpole to frog takes a mere twelve weeks. That's a tremendous amount of change in such a short time!

I think tadpoles are inspiring. Humans seem uncomfortable with change, resist it, don't trust it. This amphibian doesn't have a choice but to live through huge changes in the first few weeks of its life! We can learn from tadpoles.

2 comments:

Laura Shea-Clark said...

Photo by Guy Clark. : )

Anonymous said...

Laura -

Great blog! Change is perhaps easier dealt with when one is younger, flexible and resilient. Rich says tadpoles make great kitty appetizers ;-) yum, yum, yum!

-SueQ