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Maternal devotion

The tiny strawberry poison arrow frog carries a tadpole on its back. The tadpole hatched on the ground but the mother must carry her tadpole all the way up into the trees to its own cradle in the canopy. In these hanging gardens, up to 20 feet above the forest floor, an eggcup-sized pond is all this mother needs in the middle of a plant. But after all this effort her work still is not finished. A few days later she has to make the same climb all over again. Her tadpole has no food, so it waits for her like a chick in its nest. As she lowers herself in, the tadpole head-butts her and gives her a nip. Then she gives it what it wants. She lays an infertile egg for it to eat. With the water and regular meals from its mother, the tadpole has all it needs to grow into a frog.

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