Life Cycle of Animals
Class 6 Science · Chapter 10: Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics · NCERT Curiosity section 10.5
Learn
After the rains, Divit finds jelly-like eggs in a pond. A week later they hatch into tadpoles that swim with tails and breathe with gills. Slowly they grow legs, lose their tails and become froglets, and finally adult frogs that can live on land too.
A big change in body form during the life cycle is called metamorphosis. Butterflies do it too: egg → caterpillar → pupa → butterfly. Mosquitoes go egg → larva → pupa → adult, and their eggs and larvae live in still water.
That's why we empty coolers, flower vases, old tyres and pots every week: no still water means no mosquito larvae, and fewer cases of dengue and malaria. Knowing a life cycle helps us protect our health!
Explore: order the animal life cycles.
- Order the life cycle of a frog.
- Now the mosquito.
Remember
- Frog: eggs → tadpole → froglet → frog. Mosquito: egg → larva → pupa → adult.
- Removing still water breaks the mosquito life cycle.
Quick check
In which stage does a frog have a tail and breathe through gills?
- Tadpole
- Adult frog
- Egg
- Pupa
Answer
Tadpole. Tadpoles live in water, swim with a tail and breathe with gills.
Think about it
Some animals, like cows and humans, do not go through metamorphosis. How is a calf different from a tadpole in this way?
One answer
A calf already looks like a small cow and just grows bigger. A tadpole looks very different from an adult frog and changes its body form completely.
Practice
Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.