A hopping surprise
Tadpoles that hatched in an outdoor tank at the Waikato Water Treatment Plant are a daily delight for preschoolers as they watch them transform into bell frogs.
Watercare process technician Scott Llewelyn was amazed to see hundreds of tadpoles in one of the treatment plant’s storage bunds.
‘‘We hadn’t noticed any eggs, so it was a big surprise to come across hundreds of tiny tadpoles in the bund one morning,’’ he said.
‘‘A bund is a large open tank installed to manage and contain any spillage from our chemical storage tanks. They fill up with rainwater, so a frog must have decided it was a good spot to lay its eggs.
‘‘The tadpoles were quite happy there, but to give them the best chance of becoming adult frogs we scooped them up and put them in buckets to relocate them.’’
Llewelyn’s daughters’ daycare, Buttercups Early Learning Centre in Pukekohe, wanted to look after the tadpoles and re-home them after they became frogs.
The children are learning all about the life cycle of frogs and have been making frog-themed artwork.
‘‘The children are so excited about it, they check them every day,’’ he said.
‘‘One day they came in and some of the tadpoles were missing – they’d turned into frogs overnight and were hopping around the centre.’’