Look around the screen to find out more about spotted tree frogs.
Rainbow trout and eastern gambusia are introduced species – they are not native to Australia.
They eat frog eggs and tadpoles.
Galaxis fish share the spotted tree frogs' stream habitat.
They compete with the tadpoles for the same food.
Tadpoles feed on bits of animal and plant material floating in the water.
Algae grows on rocks in the stream, and floats away as it breaks off.
It is an important food for tadpoles.
For protection, tadpoles hide behind rocks. They also stay still near dead or rotting leaves on the stream bed to camouflage themselves.
Here they can't easily be seen by predators.
Spotted tree frogs are very sensitive to changes in the forests and streams where they live.
Frogs and their habitats can be harmed by land clearing, introduced species and pollution.
Did you know that spotted tree frogs are endangered? They live in and near mountain streams in forests in south-eastern Australia.
Explore the spotted tree frog's habitat to see what you can find.
Make it alive: spotted tree frogs
Number of tadpoles
Food
Metamorphosis
Small tadpole
Large tadpole
Tadpole with back legs
Tadpole with front and back legs
Frog
Frogs start life as tadpoles. Tadpoles must eat in order to grow.
As they get bigger, they grow back legs and then front legs. Their tails shrink and they become frogs. For spotted tree frogs, this metamorphosis takes around two months.
Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to help the tadpole find enough food to grow into a frog.
Watch out for the eastern gambusia and rainbow trout! When one appears, find a hiding place for the tadpole and keep it still until the predator passes.
Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to help the tadpole find enough food to grow into a frog.
Watch out for the eastern gambusia and rainbow trout! When one appears, find a hiding place for the tadpole and keep it still until the predator passes.
Oh no! Your tadpole did not eat enough food to grow bigger.
Help the others.
Acknowledgements
Please refer to Conditions of use
The sound effects have been reproduced by kind permission of Sonomic, http://www.sonomic.com.
Oh no! It looks like spotted tree frogs won't be able to survive in this habitat.
The tadpoles can't get enough food, and there are too many introduced predators in the stream.
Well done! The tadpole survived to turn into a spotted tree frog.
For this to happen, a tadpole needs enough food to eat. It also needs to avoid introduced predators such as eastern gambusia and rainbow trout.