Gastric-Brooding Frogs

Is there anything purer than a mother taking care of her young in the wild? One of the universal concepts that transcends species boundaries is motherhood. Naturally, some mothers are creepier than others. Which takes us to the frog that broods in its stomach.

The mother of this species, which was first discovered in the 1970s, swallows the fertilised eggs and utilises her own stomach as a womb to carry the young to term. Inside their mother, the eggs hatch and even develop into tadpoles. Then, when they grow little arms and legs, their mother barfs them into the world in a birthing ritual fit for any upcoming horror film that wants to exploit that as an inspiration.

Scientists in Australia succeeded in reviving the gastric-brooding frog in 2013, after the species had been extinct for nearly 30 years as a result of a fungus that decimated them. Which means scientists used the DNA they had on hand to produce a viable embryo. But rather than a genuine resurrection, it was more of a proof-of-concept experiment.

However, the fact that it was successful was positive, and scientists are still working to bring the species back to life. Somatic cell nuclear transfer will be used to insert DNA from the extinct creatures into a frog egg, giving the species a chance to make a comeback.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Myobatrachidae
Genus: †Rheobatrachus