North America's largest tadpole

By Aaron Horrell

In my hand is a bullfrog tadpole. I dipped it from a pond May 15.

It probably is a bit over two years old.

A female American bullfrog can lay about 20,000 eggs in early spring.

Southeast Missouri is within the natural range of the American bullfrog.

Its natural lifespan in the wild is believed to be about eight years.

About three of those years are spent in a metamorphosis developmental state.

From a beginning, as a tiny egg, it lives in shallow water, and over the next few years it grows into North America's largest tadpole.

Eventually, it loses its long tail, grows legs and becomes North America's largest frog.