At the pond, Rocket points at wiggly tadpoles. "Those look nothing like frogs!" he says.
A grasshopper hops past. "But that little hopper looks just like a big one."
Raven kneels by the water. "What do you notice? Do all animals change the same way?"
Nova hovers between the pond and the grass. "Compare the young with the adults," she says.
In spring, frogs lay a mass of eggs. They attach it to rocks or sticks.
Tadpoles hatch. They have gills and a tail. They eat mostly tiny living things like algae.
Over time, they grow legs, lose their tail, grow lungs and lose their gills.
The young frog starts eating insects instead of plants.
A grasshopper has three stages: egg, nymph and adult.
A nymph looks like a small adult. It grows bigger as it gets older.
A chicken egg takes about 21 days to hatch. The chick grows into an adult hen or rooster.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| A tadpole has gills and a tail. | ? |
| A grasshopper nymph looks like a small adult. | ? |
| A frog keeps its tail its whole life. | ? |
| A chicken egg takes about 21 days to hatch. | ? |
A frog changes a lot. A tadpole lives in water and breathes with gills.
Later it grows lungs, loses its tail and can live on land.
A grasshopper changes only a little. Its nymph looks like a small adult.
The nymph just grows bigger until it is an adult.
Life cycles are full of surprises! Check your seed bag, then come back tomorrow to compare them all.