can we have some of your favourite weirdest creatures? weird as in physiology, behaviour, or origin/discovery story
Ok, so, ive been think about frogs that keep their babies in their mouths/throats/stomachs...
Darwin’s Frog (Rhinoderma darwinii), males with froglets, family Rhinodermatidae, found in the Valdivian Temperate Rain Forest of Chile and Argentina
Famous for its child rearing technique. The male holds both the eggs and tadpoles in his vocal sac. The froglets emerge from the male’s mouth after metamorphosing.
Endangered due to habitat destruction.
photographs by Dante Fenolio and Michael & Patricia Fogden
Southern Gastric Brooding Frog (Rheobatrachus silus), family Myobtrachidae, found in the Blackall Range and Conondale Ranges in southeast Queensland, north of Brisbane, Australia
First discovered by western science in 1972 (possibly 1914), the last wild specimen was encountered in 1981, and the last captive specimen died in 1983.
The cause(s) for decline and extinction are unclear, but may include introduced species, habitat degradation, and the Chyrtrid fungus.
There is a project currently working to clone this frog. They have only been successful, so far, in cloning an embryo.
Females would swallow fertilized eggs, and brood them and tadpoles in her stomach. The metamorphosed froglets would emerge from her mouth later on.
There is considerable disagreement as to which family they should be included in (with some herpetologists putting the 2 species of Rheobatrachus into their own family).
photographs by AU Images and Michael Tyler
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