This poison arrow dart frog makes a home for its tadpoles in this plant’s leaves. Water collects there, forming pools.


Watery Homes Animals don’t just crawl, walk, slither, or fl y to water. Many live in it. T ese fresh-water habitats are key to their survival and that of many other animals. Some, like most fi sh, can only live in water.


T ey don’t have lungs to breathe air. So they would die if they didn’t have a watery home. Others such as frogs, toads, and many


insects spend part of their life cycle in the water. Take the poison arrow dart frog. T is frog lives in the rain forest. When


tadpoles hatch, they wriggle onto their mother’s back. She carries them high up into a tree. She looks for a special type of plant that


grows on the side of the tree. When she fi nds it, she puts each tadpole into a tiny pool of water between the leaves of that plant. T ese high-rise swimming pools keep the tadpoles safe from predators. In eight weeks, they become frogs and hop down from the treetops. Still other animals eat the creatures that live


in fresh-water habitats. Without them, these animals could starve.


This desert cactus stores up water during dry times.


OCTOBER 2010 21

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