From Tadpole to Froglet: An Amazing Transformation
May 26, 2013
On March 12, an amazing transformation took place at Omaha’s Henry
Doorly Zoo: a Milky Tree Frog tadpole
became a froglet, one more important stage on its journey to becoming an adult Frog. The metamorphosis from tadpole to
juvenile took about three weeks to complete.
Photo Credit: Omaha’s Henry
Doorly Zoo.
Milky Tree Frogs are also known as Amazon Milk Frogs, Mission Golden-Eyed Tree Frogs or Blue Milk Frogs. They inhabit tropical rain forests in the
Amazon basin, and dwell entirely in the forest canopy. This is not all that unusual, except most
Tree Frogs are rather small. The Milky
Tree Frog, however, grows up to four inches (10 cm) long – big enough to dine on pinky mice at the zoo.
The “milk” in this Frog’s name comes from the poisonous, milk-colored fluid they secrete when stressed. The photos above show the froglet (top two photos) and adult (bottom two photos).