Wilbur

"Wilbur" the frog is no longer with St. A's. The 6th grade class and their kindergarten buddies took a walk on May 10th to Mead Pond to release Wilbur back into the wild. Although we are all sad that we no longer have him in our classroom, we know that this was the 'right' thing to do for a wild animal. Wilbur is in his natural habitat!


 * History of Wilbur **
 * W**ilbur is a tadpole that will grow into a common frog (Rana temporaria). Wilbur joined our science/grade 6 classroom in October along with 7 other tadpoles. The tadpoles were a bit stressed and 2 of them perished within a couple of weeks. The remainder continued to exist until December. These tadpoles are called seasonal tadpoles. They go into a type of hibernation during the short days of winter and will not begin the process of metamorphosis until the days become longer (springtime). The tadpoles were taken to a home during Christmas vacation and unfortunately, the change in the temperature of the environment provided more stress than most of them could handle. Four more tadpoles perished. Of the two remaining tadpoles, one appeared to continue its growth and its back began to darken. The second tadpole remained rather small and was not developing a dark color on its body. The tadpoles remained where they were to prevent another stressful transfer back to school. Eventually, the temperature warmed up and it was safe to transfer the tadpoles. Unfortunately, a few days before the transfer, the second tadpole perished. The surviving tadpole was returned to St. A's and it was decided that it should be given a name - Wilbur!

As the days became longer. Wilbur began the process of metamorphosis. The students were able to see 2 skinny back legs emerge and watch Wilbur's mouth flutter as he filter-fed. Within a week, the legs became larger and his body displayed a green color with dark spots. The following week, the front legs emerged and Wilbur began to have his "frog" mouth form. When we left for spring vacation, we were all looking forward to seeing how much Wilbur progressed over the 10 day period.



Guess what Wilbur did during vacation...he finished developing into a frog! He has no more tail, his front and back legs are fully developed and he is keeping his head above water to breathe. His coloring and the lateral ridge identify him as a Northern Green frog.

Wilbur ate his first insect today (4/12). We put a cricket into his tank and it took Wilbur only a minute to spot it and "chomp" it down. **We will be releasing him into Mead pond on May 10th.** We want to make sure the water is nice and warm for Wilbur and that he will be able to take care of himself. Wilbur's body is only about 1 1/2 inches long at this time. As an adult, he will be between 2 1/2" - 4" long.