Nupsee Pond is a local vernal pool. Every year, in late summer, it dries up completely, and in winter, as ice melts, it fills back up. This means that any animal that lives in a vernal pool must be aquatic, but be able to tolerate a few months of dryness. This means that Amphibians, Spiders, Dragonflies, Water Snakes, and Turtles dominate. Fish for example, would do well during half the year, but would be doomed in the fall, when the pond goes dry.

When the pond Dries, Hundreds of tadpoles, Mosquito larvae and dragonfly nymphs that have not yet metamorphosed into terrestrial adults, die off in a huge sludge of dead organisms at the lowest point of the pool. This attracts Blowflies, Yellow Jackets, And Raccoons. Most of them though, rush into premature metamorphosis, resulting in overwhelming numbers of Tiny frogs, Toads, and Red Efts migrating across the mud, and into the woods, where most of them will be eaten by birds.