Life Cycle of an Amphibian PDF

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Living Things Text focus: Explanation Text Life Cycle of an Amphibian A...

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Living Things Text focus: Explanation Text Life Cycle of an Amphibian Amphibians are some mes thought of as being closely related to rep les, but there are several significant differences in their life cycles. Both lay eggs and are cold-blooded (ectotherms). Rep les lay hard-shelled eggs whereas amphibian eggs are encased in jelly. Rep le young are born with lungs, yet amphibians are born with gills to breathe underwater. Rep les live in a wide range of habitats, but amphibians live in or near water for their en re life. Amphibians lay their eggs (spawn) in water, o en near to the edge or in As the tail disappears, frogs and toads move on to shallow areas. Frogspawn forms in land for part of their me. Some adult amphibians clumps, while toadspawn is laid in long spend most of their me in water, and some spend ribbons. Spawn appears in spring, usually most of their me on land. It depends on the in February or March. species. Once the amphibian has developed all four legs and started to take on its adult form, it stops ea ng vegeta on. It uses nutrients stored in the tail to feed now. Over the next 7 to 9 days, the embryos Eventually, the tail disappears. inside the eggs will start to develop. If you look closely, you can observe these changes each day. During the following 14 weeks, the tadpole will start to develop. This takes slightly longer in toads. It only eats plants at this me. A er this period, the embryos will hatch as tadpoles. Tadpoles have a head and a tail but no limbs at this point. A ding ro Rea und all resources ©2019 Literacy Shed e um C u r r ic ul Th http://www.literacyshedplus.com  RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. What is the main difference between frogspawn and toadspawn? 2. How long does it take for amphibian spawn to hatch? 3. How long does it take a frog to develop from a tadpole into a small frog? 4. Where are the nutrients stored that a frog will need to use once it has all four legs? 5. What determines whether amphibians spend most of their time on land or in the water? VIPERS QUESTIONS S List two differences between reptiles and amphibians. V Which word or phrase means closest to “see or watch”? S What happens to the embryos once they are fully formed? E How do the arrows on the diagram help you as a reader? P What do you think would be different if this was a diagram of a reptile life cycle? all resources ©2019 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com