This video showing "tailed frogs" was made late July, 2007 in our garden in France. These frogs averaged 10-12 cm (4-5") in length, with the longest ones attaining 15 cm.

Some research on the Internet showed there exist small tailed frogs (Ascaphus truei) in British Columbia, Canada, and in the North-West of the United States. However, those live near cold mountain rivers and look very different.

After finding newts in this pond just two days before, we first thought we were looking at some kind of adult newt but, apart from the tail, newts do look very different and can't possibly be mistaken with frogs. Anyway, after exchanging a couple of e-mails with more knowledgeable people, we found the culprit: the weather.

April was very sunny and warm, and tadpoles evolved as they normally do at that time of the year. However, the weather suddenly became colder and remained cool and rainy until late July when we made these pictures, forcing tadpoles to hide in the silt at the bottom of the pond. This cooling of the weather coincided with the period when they loose their tails and grow legs. This transformation phase was seemingly slowed down until this week, when the weather became warm and sunny again. Meanwhile, in spite of still having their tails, they had grown and almost looked like adult frogs.