Perfect Pond Animals: What Creatures Can You Find Amongst The Algae?

A pond is a very small water body or a water system that serves as a small habitat for nature and its other components.

Both Biotic and abiotic components are found in a pond habitat. Biotic components refer to living matter while abiotic components deal with non-living physical aspects of nature like sun, wind, water, soil, and others.

Ponds are located all over the world. Some of them are natural, as they are formed by nature.

While the others are artificial that are created by humans, as is common as a garden pond. Different diversity of animals can be found in this water system like insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds to even the class of mammalian.

Conservation and preservation of the pond habitat are extremely essential and we all should take an active role to protect this habitat to the best of our might.

If you find our content interesting and informative be sure to check out our other special articles like animals that live underground and midnight zone animals.

Where are ponds located and what are their ecosystems like?

Before we have a glance at ponds and the ecosystem that they support we must first get a basic idea of what is a pond and what is an ecosystem.

A pond is a small water body that is either created by nature or is artificial, that is, created by man. Ponds are freshwater systems that support a wide range of wildlife.

Now let’s learn what is an ecosystem.

An ecosystem is a place where creatures and various organisms interact with one another along with the physical elements of nature. Both biotic and abiotic components interact and complete the cycle, thereby forming an ecosystem.

As ponds can provide such an environment where both biotic and abiotic components interact with one another, therefore ponds too, have their own unique ecosystem. The biotic components of the pond habitat involve all the living matter that can be found in the pond and also in the surrounding areas.

Both plant life and animal life can be found in this ecosystem. Examples of such include fish, various insects, frogs, birds, plants, different variety of amphibians, tadpoles, dragonflies, snails, ducks, newts, toads, beetles, and other similar animals.

All these plants and animals together interact and thereby continue life.

Some plants and animals serve as food for others and thus maintain the food chain. Creatures like insects, snails, tadpoles, dragonflies serve as food for frogs and toads who in turn serve as food for greater amphibians, reptiles, fish, and other greater mammals thereby helping the environment to survive.

Ponds help to maintain the balance between the living and non-living components, and also the balance between pond animals and plants.

What mammals live in a pond?

Ponds are a rich source of the diverse wildlife that can be both found in waters as well the land. The population of animals that live in a pond habitat ranges from small to large creatures. Here, we will take a glance at the population of the creatures that are found in ponds.

Numerous small creatures featured in the pond habitat belong to the class Mammalia of the Animalia kingdom. Rats, moles, muskrats, and beavers are the various mammals that reside in the area or the vicinity of a pond.

Rats and moles are common animals whose natural habitat is the pond habitat and are found all over the world.

These little animals feed on natural plants and other small insects that are found in the area and thus essentially become core pond habitat animals. Moving on to beavers, these animals are found exclusively in large lakes, ponds, or in a river spread across the United States of America.

If you have a garden pond then apart from a tadpole or a frog, other animals of the class Mammalian can be found. The list also extends to a large number of cats and dogs that can be found in the vicinity of the pond.

Animals That Live At The Bottom Of Ponds

Some different strata or layers can be found in a pond, and a large variety of animals can be found in each layer. Here, let us take a look at these animals that are found in every layer of this habitat.

Animals like the frog, insects, or the heron can be found in the upper layer of the ground. In the waters, there are pond and lake animals that can be found in the upper layer of the water like small insects.

A wide range of fish and other aquatic animals can be located in the middle layer of the water and finally comes the last layer, the bottom-dwelling layer of the pond. This layer too features a wide range of life.

Slow traveling animals are usually found in these layers. Few varieties of insects, fish, and worms are located here. Crayfish are also common.

These animals prefer to stay in the bottom layer of the water, where mud is abundant. These animals build their shelter in the bottom of the mud, and the bottom of the pond provides the ideal place for these animals to live.

All Animals That Can Be Found In A Pond

Garden ponds or the ponds in the wild, attract hundreds of varieties of animals, starting from small insects to big birds and mammals. Some of them live there and some are just occasional visitors, but all of their lives depend on the pond.

Flies: there are many species of flies, like alderfly, damselfly, caddisfly, mayfly, and dragonfly. They can be found around ponds primarily when they lay their eggs or during their nymph stage. The nymphs feed on other aquatic wild animals. They might rely less on pond wildlife for food once they grow up, but they still live around them.

Amphibians: one of the most common animals that can be found in ponds are frogs and toads. Newts are also found around ponds. Frogs spend their entire lives in water, from egg to adult. Tadpoles live in water and feed on aquatic plants and animals. They even have gills to breathe underwater.

Invertebrates: there are hundreds of species of invertebrates that are found in ponds, like water beetles, water snails, larvae of many species, worms, and leeches. Most of their lives depend on the balanced ecosystem of the pond.

Fishes: you don't need to be told by us that many kinds of freshwater fish can be found in ponds, tench, eel, sturgeon, and more.

Birds: there are many species of aquatic and semi-aquatic birds that depend on ponds to survive. If you have large ponds, you can even find ducks, swans, geese, and many other waterfowl species. Many terrestrial birds that feed on insects can even be seen foraging around ponds.

Keep The Animals Of Your Garden Pond Healthy

Garden ponds are mainly artificial water bodies as they are man-made. So if you own or if you plan on having a personal garden pond then be prepared to shoulder many responsibilities.

One of the most important responsibilities is keeping the animals’ lives healthy so that the habitat remains as perfect as possible. Now let us take a look at how we can maintain the health of the animals that reside in your garden pond.

First, you should regularly cut and trim the vegetation that grows in the vicinity of your pond. Trimming of this vegetation is extremely important to do at least once a season.

Regular cutting of plants and vegetation facilitates new growth in plants that attracts more animals. Next, you should take proper care in planting different varieties of plants every season.

Greenery not only controls the environment but also adds to the scenic beauty of your garden pond. The next step is extremely important.

You should take great care in controlling the growth of algae and floral blooms. No doubt algae and floral blooms are important as they serve as a diet source for animals.

However, they have a special tendency for rapid growth. Blooms often become extremely harmful when they cover the entire pond as they restrict sunlight and fresh oxygen in the water, thereby cutting of the essentials to survive for water animals.

Over a course of time, ponds start gathering sediment at their bottoms, which slowly turns the water muddy. So before it turns critical, make sure to remove excess sediments from the bottom.

Lastly, you can also opt to create an additional shade in your garden that serves as a means of relief for both greens and animals if your garden pond is located in extreme temperatures.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for pond animals then why not take a look at animals in the taiga, or orange animals facts pages?