With a rapidly depleting population, tadpoles are a great excitment to the hope of one day replenishing the species fully! It's essential to understand the tadpoles needs and charcteristics, due to the danger of loosing the few remaining. Immediately after hatching the Arroyo tadpoles are difficult to distinguish from other species of tadpoles, but changes in their color, size and shape are very obvious a few weeks later. When the tadpoles first hatch they're small and black. Later, the Arroyo tadpoles grow into a tan color, which remeins the same throughout their adult lives. Arroyo tadpoles distribute themselves evenly within the pools they inhabit. After metamorphosis, toadlets appear as miniature adults with the exception of having yellow spots (San Diego Natural History Museum, www.sdnm.org).
(www.sdnhm.org)
These little creatures are helping to mantain the ecosystems in which they inhabit and we, as humans can study and learn more about this amazing life form. We want our children and grandchildren to visit streams and reserviors and endulge themselves in the fascination of the Arroyo Toad (www.nwf.org).
(www.nwf.org)
