Category: Learn

You step into the warm sun on a late spring afternoon. As you walk along the edge of a shallow pond, you hear the distinctive ‘PLOP’ of a frog jumping to the safety of the cool waters. You glance down into the water and see the surface looks as if it is almost alive- the surface is writhing and wriggling in the shallows. Upon closer inspection, you see hundreds, if not thousands of tiny tadpoles!

Tadpoles have captured the attention and imagination of all ages, from toddlers to adults.

It’s hard for us to grasp how that tiny squirming speck will one day become an adult frog or toad. Did you know that Ohio is home to 15 species of frogs and toads? Every one of those species must seek out a water source and go through complete metamorphosis: from egg to tadpole to froglet to adult. One of our loudest and largest residents exemplifies the stages of a tadpole quite well. Let’s check out the life cycle of our bullfrog!

On a warm spring or early summer night, a female bullfrog can lay up to 20,000 eggs! She will lay these eggs in different clutches with varying amounts of eggs in each. As those tiny tadpoles start to take shape, they hatch out in one to three weeks. Interestingly, the amount of time needed to emerge largely depends on the temperature. The warmer it is, the faster the tadpoles will develop. Once the tadpoles hatch out, it’s growing time. Young tadpoles spend their days munching on dead vegetation and occasionally other dead tadpoles! Tadpoles breathe using their gills, which are covered by a skin flap to protect this sensitive organ. Those gills don’t stick around forever. At just four weeks, tadpoles start to develop lungs. However, their gills do not disappear until they are almost ready to transition to an adult frog. Could you imagine being able to breathe in two different ways? Tadpoles get to “test drive” their lungs long before they depend on them. If you ever see tadpoles swimming to the surface and darting back down, then you are witnessing a tadpole learning to breathe from its lungs.

Bullfrogs have an unusually large range in development and can spend anywhere from one to two years as a tadpole. While some of our local toads and frogs can develop as quickly as a couple of months. A bullfrog tadpole eats everything it can get its mouth around, up until the magic happens. At first, just a small nub will appear at the base of the tadpole’s body. As that nub grows little by little each day, look closely, there are probably small webbed feet attached to that pollywog! That first set of tiny webbed feet will grow into long and powerful back legs, built for hopping and swimming. As the back legs are becoming fully recognizable, other changes start to happen to the tadpole; front legs sprout, the tail shortens, and the body of that tadpole is no longer a rounded lump, it is elongated and now has structure. At this stage, it is not quite a tadpole, not quite a frog…it’s a froglet! Froglets have fully formed lungs and can be spotted hopping around the edges of the pond. It will not be long until the froglet’s tail is absorbed into its body and finally becomes a frog.

It’s no wonder tadpoles induce such wonderment to all audiences. The next time you are chasing a frog around a pond or wetland, be sure to look for those cute little tadpoles too. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to find one with legs! If you would like to learn more about tadpoles and see them in their different developmental stages, watch this video or check your knowledge with our ‘Bullfrog Life Cycle Activity’ coloring page..

Millions of years ago, Ohio’s landscape looked much different than it does today. A warm shallow ocean covered the land and strange creatures inhabited these waters. These creatures, including filter feeders, a few scavengers, and even predators, all roamed the ocean during the Ordovician time period, which was over 450 million years ago. Over time these warm shallow oceans were replaced by mountains and forests as Ohio’s land moved north of the equator. The Cincinnati area is known for having the most Ordovician fossils. This was due to an uplift that happened in the Earth’s crust, which caused a special feature called the Cincinnati Arch. This lift allowed many of the fossils normally found deep within the layers of the earth to push upward to the surface so that we can find them. Now, you can find clues to the ancient past by looking at the limestone and shale rocks in the Cincinnati area.

These ancient fossils are the remains of past life. In Ohio, fossils are everywhere. They are found in all 88 counties of the state. The fossils found in Ohio are special because amazingingly enough, they are OLDER than the dinosaurs! Fossils are useful to us in many ways. They are evidence of animals of the long-distant past, they show the appearance of different life forms and they are the documents from which development of life in the past can be traced. Scientists from all over the world travel to the Cincinnati area to view these special fossils.

One example of a fossil you can find in Ohio is the trilobite. Trilobites are one of the earliest forms of the group arthropods. The name trilobite means “three-lobed”, based on their body plan. Trilobites were predators on the ocean floor and they came in many different sizes and shapes. Some can be so small you need a microscope to see them and some can be up to two feet across. In Ohio, our state fossil, Isotelus Maximus, is a trilobite and is one of the largest species we find. Many times when we find them, they are rolled up in a ball, meaning they had used their hard exoskeleton for protection. There were many species of trilobite, but all are now extinct. However, a close relative of the trilobite is a horseshoe crab. If you are looking to find a trilobite, look in the layers of shale rock where you are more likely to find an unbroken, whole fossil.

Take some time to explore and see if you can find a fossil treasure. Take time to think about what the animal may have looked like or how it may have moved and hunted for food. Challenge yourself to find the smallest individual fossil or try to find a rock with the most fossils embedded in it. Use our fossil guide to look for all the different types of fossils we have here in Ohio or try the Greenacres ‘Ordovician Sea Floor’ Coloring Page. Take time to learn what is under your feet as you explore the fossils of Ohio. Happy fossil hunting!

When most people visit forests, they tend to look mostly upwards, into the trees looking for birds and squirrels, or off in the distance hoping to glimpse a deer or coyote. But if you want to have the best chance of seeing a lot of animals, you should look down. The forest floor habitat teems with small interesting animals that are easy to find and observe.

When you visit a natural place, you are in a habitat. A habitat is a place where an animal or plant lives and gets all the things it needs to survive and reproduce (food, water, shelter, and space). Habitats can be very big or very small. A bald eagle’s habitat would be thousands of acres in size and might contain several lakes and rivers, and many patches of forest and field. A spider’s habitat might be a single plant where it builds its web and spends its entire life. Larger habitats contain many ever-smaller habitats, nested within the larger ones like Russian dolls.

Very small habitats are called microhabitats. Two very different microhabitats can be within a very short distance of each other, and they are distinct because they have different characteristics such as moisture, temperature, or soil type.

The food of the forest floor habitat is provided largely from above. Trees make food all summer and then drop it in the fall. Outside of the annual leaf-fall, trees drop branches, leaves, fruits, and even whole trunks during other parts of the year. This tree “debris” (as we might think of it) is the energy that keeps the forest floor ecosystem going. Leaves are the main food of the forest floor, and branches, logs and soil also provide a lot of shelter.

One way to uncover the secrets of the forest floor is to roll logs, or move rocks or pieces of bark and see what is underneath. Always remember that as a visitor to the forest, you have a responsibility to be non-destructive. Most parks require that visitors stay on trails because if everyone rolled logs constantly, the habitat would soon be damaged. So if you do this, make sure you are allowed, and do it in moderation. When you overturn a log or rock, always carefully place it back just as you find it to preserve the qualities that made it a good place for something to live. And if you do find something living under there, be careful not to drop the log back onto it. Finally, don’t turn logs in cold weather, as you will cause animals that are seeking warmth to freeze to death. One way to expand your searching opportunities is to add habitats to your own backyard natural area by putting down plywood or sheet metal pieces (or logs, of course). These can later be searched, and you will see that animals will move in quite quickly.

When you move a log, notice that the microhabitat characteristics under the log make it a unique place. When it is very dry near the log, it will be moist under the log. If it is hot out, you’ll notice that it is much cooler under the log. Often, there are no leaves, which makes the soil accessible to the animals. If the log is decayed, there are hundreds of little hiding places. You will often see the white thread-like hyphae of a fungus. Fungi are decomposers, so they break down things like logs, releasing the nutrients back to the soil. As they break down the log, the log becomes food, and so do the fungi. Another great benefit to living under a log is protection from predators. If a small snake is living under a log, it is safe from bird predators (a bird can’t roll a log like you can).

So what are some common animals that you might find under a log? Or, put another way, what members of the forest floor community might use a log as their microhabitat?