Strange Breeding

Surinam Toad

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The Surinam toad, an aquatic South American toad (family Pipidae), is about 20 cm (8 inches) long. It has small eyes, a flat, squarish body, and a flat head with loose flaps of skin on the face. Its "fingers" have little star-shaped appendages that help them find food.

Photo sent in by J. Powers of Bloomington, Indiana

These bizarre creatures are well known for their weird brooding habits.
They mate in the water, and as the eggs are released the male fertalizes them and presses them to the back of the female.
In the next several hours, the skin grows around the eggs to enclose them in a cyst with a horny lid.
After about 80 days, the eggs develop, and the young emerge out of the back of this toad as a bunch of tiny froglets!

Darwin's Frog

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Another strange frog is the Darwin's frog (Rhinoderma darwinii).
This is a small (1 in./3 cm. in length) frog, species of the (small) family Rhinodermatidae. It got it's name after the fact that Charles Darwin discovered it on his world voyage.
This frog lives in the cool forest streams of South America, mostly in Argentina and Chile.
This frog also has odd brooding habits. The female lays about 30 eggs and then the male guards them for about 2 weeks. Then the male picks up all the survivors and carry around the developing young in their vocal pouch. The tadpoles develope in their baggy chin skin, feeding off their egg yolk. When they are tiny froglets (about half an inch) they hop out and swim away!
Weird!

Gastric Brooding Frog

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Yep...that's a baby frog coming out of a tiny mama frogs' mouth.
This species of frog, called the Gastric Brooding Frog, incubates its' young inside it's tummy...then the frogs come hopping out of the mouth when they develop past the tadpole stage. Scientists were most intrigued by how this species manages to "Turn off" production of hydrochloric acid (the digestive juices) when brooding the froglets.
The Gastric Brooding Frog was found in Australia. Sadly, not long after their discovery they dissapeared and are now believed to be extinct. Also- Yes! That is a thumb you see behind the frog, to show how tiny even the mama is.