Oh, Your Baby Is So Cute….But It Does Not Look Anything Like You!

Many animals have young that look like small versions of the adults.  For instance puppies look like adult dogs and kittens are just adorable versions of their parents.  Even young termites resemble adults.

Some animals go through life stages where their young don’t look at all like the adults. For example caterpillars, mealworms, and maggots are larval (young) insects.  These larvae look more like crunchy worms than insects. 

Many amphibians go thru a life stage called a tadpole, where the young frog looks and acts more like a fish than a frog.  Tadpoles swim and have gills like fish do.  As I was walking around some of buildings yesterday, I saw these tadpoles swimming in a moat.  I’m sorry that I will not stay on this gorgeous rainforest island long enough to see what type of frog these tadpoles will become.  I know they are not ready to transform into adults yet because they have not started sprouting legs and their tails are still long and fully functional for swimming. 

I saw other insects on top of the water while I watched the tadpoles.  I will blog about them some time soon, so stay tuned to Ramblin’ Round the Rainforest!

- Fran Zakutansky