Secret Lives of Frogs in My Garden Pond ????| Discover Wildlife | Robert E Fuller

From spawn, to tadpole and finally, frog, the early lives of frogs is fascinating. Watch the metamorphosis in my garden pond.

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*ABOUT ME*
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I am a British wildlife artist and filmmaker on a mission to share my love for wildlife with the world. As well as creating detailed animal film and art portraits, I promote wildlife tours around the world and do all I can to help conserve and protect wildlife here at my home in Yorkshire. I hope that by putting nature in the frame I can foster a deep love for wildlife amongst my followers.

You may like to purchase my artwork which you can find on my website: https://www.robertefuller.com. Many of my paintings are portraits of the wonderful characters you watch here!

*ABOUT THIS FILM*
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To capture the secret lives of frogs, I turn the spotlight on my garden pond and film the process from spawning, to hatching and finally, those first, frog hops.

Common frogs
The common frog species, or Rana temporaria, can be found across the UK

My garden pond
They share my pond with an array of species, including toads, newts and a wide number of invertebrates.

Spring
Each spring frogs migrate back to my pond to breed in huge numbers. You can usually hear their croaks before you see them. It's interesting to see how they make these loud croaks, but literally holding their breath and moving the air to and fro.

Ball of frogs
The males are so fired up they can sometimes almost drown the female as they fight to latch on to her and it can be quite dangerous as she gets pulled under in the frenzy - some even drown! In the confusion toads, also at the pond to mate, accidently join in and the fights between them can be dramatic!

Toads v frogs
The species are often confused, but frogs have long legs, with smoother, slimier looking skin than toads, which are stouter and have drier warty skin.

Frogspawn
The eggs are laid in their thousands, encased in a protective jelly filled with nutrients. The male sprays these with his sperm. The spawn, which expands in water and is there to feed the tadpoles during their first dates, is attached to pond weed to prevent it from sinking to the bottom.

Tadpoles
It's incredible to watch the process as they egg cell divides and slowly a tadpole develops, ready to break free from the jelly. At this stage they eat just algae and plant matter, but now they undergo a remarkable metamorphosis, losing their feathery gills and growing back legs, then growing front ones. Their diet also changes and they begin to consume water fleas and other invertebrates. Sometimes, if conditions are too crowded, they even eat each other!

Predators
Although there are now thousands of tadpoles, few of them will make it to adulthood. Tadpoles are vulnerable to predators, including lesser diving beetles, spiders and backswimmers - a beetle that swims upside down! This creature injects the tadpole with a toxic saliva that dissolves the tadpoles' insides.

Climate change
Warmer waters caused by climate change means that many tadpoles are now metamorphosing faster and emerging when there is less food available meaning frogs are smaller than before - and more vulnerable to predation.

Froglets
When the froglets emerge they seem so tiny, but already their lungs have developed and ready to venture out of the pond. They will continue to grow for up to four years and, interestingly, individuals often return to the very same pond they were born in. So I'm hoping I'll see these frogs again!

*CHAPTERS*
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00:23 Intro
01:08 Common frogs
01:43 Frogs migrate annually
01:47 Courtship
02:03 Croaking
02:47 Males latch on to females
03:40 Toads join in
03:53 Toad v frog
04:22 Females gets pulled underwater
05:21 Frogspawn
07:22 Frogs almost drown toad
08:58 Frogspawn v toad spawn
09:56 Tadpoles develop
11:30 Metamorphosis
12:12 Backswimmer attack tadpole
13:16 Climate change affect
14:08 Froglets


#commonfrog #robertefuller #frog

© Robert E Fuller

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