• Question: Why do Gastric-brooding frogs swallow their own eggs?

    Asked by michelletherezien to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 19 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by caitlynfarrar.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Well they don’t any more because they’re extinct 🙁

      They swallowed their own eggs as they had developed a unique way of gestating them – the eggs actually became fully formed tadpoles in their stomach. It is likely to have occured as a way of ensuring the eggs were safe from harm and with their mother at all times as they developed.

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