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About this sound
Many living things go through life stages. People change from helpless babies to mature adults in about twenty years. Some amphibians such as a frog can go from an egg to an adult in about ten weeks. Bullfrogs can take up to three years, but most frogs make that metamorphosis in one summer's time. Imagine learning how to walk, to read, to drive a car, and go to college all in one short summer. In the early summer, the mother boreal chorus frog lays her eggs in the shallow water in front of you. When the tadpoles hatch out of their egg they will have a tail to help them swim and gills to help them breath in the water. As the tadpoles grows, the back legs start to appear. Soon front legs start to grow and the gills disappear leaving the frog to breathe with lungs. Finally the tail disappears and the frog is ready to go onto the land. Frogs can be used to measure the health of a pond. In Minnesota they have found some frogs with extra legs, no back legs, or one totally straight leg and it is thought that the problem may be caused by pollution. Our pond seems to be healthy even though its purpose and surrounding habitat have changed. The water in the pond is filtered by the cattails and we have had no cases of malformed frogs.
Why parks record sound
The NPS Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division monitors soundscapes in parks across the United States. Natural quiet is treated as a resource to protect, like clean air or dark skies: noise from aircraft, vehicles and machinery can mask animal communication and change the experience of a place.
More sounds
Pond Trail Sign 6: The Power of Nature
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Pond Trail Sign 5: Migration
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Pond Trail Sign 2: The City
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Pond Trail Sign 4: Tracks
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Pond Trail Sign 1: Wildland Romance
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Sources & credits
- Pond Trail Sign 3: Metamorphosis by US National Park Service – Public domain