A baby frog is called a tadpole (or polliwog), then a froglet. The transformation from swimming tadpole to hopping frog is one of nature's most dramatic metamorphoses.
1. Egg
Laid in water as a cluster of jelly-like eggs (frogspawn)
2. Tadpole
Swims with a tail, breathes with gills — looks like a fish
3. Froglet
Has legs AND a tail — the in-between stage
4. Adult Frog
Tail absorbed, lungs developed, lives on land
Tadpoles breathe through gills — like fish
They grow legs BACKWARDS — back legs first, then front
The tail is absorbed by the body (not dropped off)
Tadpoles are herbivores — adults are carnivores
Some tadpoles take 3 years to become frogs
Poison dart frog tadpoles ride on mom's back to water
The word "tadpole" means "toad head" in Middle English
A froglet can be the size of a fingernail