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Tadpole sitting on a leaf

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is when a species changes body shape and structure at a particular point in its life cycle, such as when a tadpole turns into a frog. Sometimes, in locusts for example, the juvenile form is quite similar to the adult one. In others, they are radically different, and unrecognisable as the same species. The different forms may even entail a completely new lifestyle or habitat, such as when a ground-bound, leaf-eating caterpillar turns into a long distance flying, nectar-eating butterfly.

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About

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some insects, amphibians, molluscs, crustaceans, Cnidarians, echinoderms and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is usually accompanied by a change of habitat or behavior.

Scientific usage of the term is exclusive, and is not applied to general aspects of cell growth, including rapid growth spurts. References to "metamorphosis" in mammals are imprecise and only colloquial, but historically idealist ideas of transformation and monadology, as in Goethe's Metamorphosis of Plants, influenced the development of ideas of evolution.

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Behaviours

Other Life cycle behaviours

Video collections

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