Page 169 - Design in Nature

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Dart-poison
frogs live in
Costa Rica. (1)
Male frogs keep
watch waiting
over the eggs
until they hatch.
The newly born
tadpoles start
to climb on to
the back of their
mothers with
extraordinary
efforts. (2)

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The climb ends when they finally make it to
a special pouch on the mother’s back, in
which the tadpoles become as if one with
her. (3) Then the mother herself begins a
trying climb. This phase ends when she
reaches the flowers of the bromeliad. The
flowers of this tree are shaped like goblets
pointing skyward, and are filled with water.
The mother releases the tadpoles into these 4
flowers where they grow safely. (4)