Gastric Brooding Frog: Giving Birth Through Her Mouth
The gastric brooding frog was a mother that swallowed her own babies and gave birth through her mouth. She was not eating them, but keeping them safe inside her stomach. A stomach is full of acid strong enough to break down food, so the growing babies gave off a chemical that shut her acid down.
The story
The gastric brooding frog was a mother that swallowed her own babies and gave birth through her mouth. She was not eating them, but keeping them safe inside her stomach. A stomach is full of acid strong enough to break down food, so the growing babies gave off a chemical that shut her acid down.
For about six weeks, her stomach became a womb. She did not eat at all. It swelled so big that her lungs collapsed, so she breathed through her skin. When giving birth, up to twenty-five tiny frogs came out of her mouth, one by one, fully formed. No other animal was known to raise its babies in its stomach.
Scientists found this frog in 1972. About ten years later, it was gone. Years later, a team tried to bring it back using cells that had sat in a freezer for decades. A few eggs started to grow, but none lived more than a few days. Today, the only ones left are in museums and freezers. But frozen cells can wait, and one day she might still teach us how a stomach can switch off its own acid.
Sources
Every fact in this story is backed by at least two of these. How we check facts.
- Fanning, Tyler and Shearman, Gastroenterology (1982)
- Ed Yong, National Geographic (2013)
- UNSW (2013)
- Animal Diversity Web
- Corben, Ingram and Tyler, Science (1974)
- Tyler et al., Science (1983)
- Embryo Project Encyclopedia, ASU (2015)
- Rainforest Information for Australia
- Gross Science, PBS (2016)
- Invasive Species Council
- BBC World Service, Asia Specific (2026)
- Queensland Museum (2021)
- ABC News (2025)
Full transcript
A mother frog swallowed her own babies.
But she was not eating them. She was keeping them safe inside her stomach.
Here is the problem. A stomach is full of acid, strong enough to break down food. So the babies switched it off. As they grew, they gave off a chemical that shut down their mother's stomach acid.
For about six weeks, her stomach became a womb. She did not eat at all. It swelled so big that her lungs collapsed, so she breathed through her skin.
Then she gave birth, through her mouth. Up to twenty-five tiny frogs came out, one by one, fully formed.
No other animal was known to raise its babies in its stomach.
Scientists found this frog in nineteen seventy-two.
About ten years later, it was gone.
Years later, a team tried to bring it back, using cells that had sat in a freezer for decades. A few eggs started to grow.
None lived more than a few days.
Here is our take. This frog could do something no other animal we know of can do.
And we found it just in time to watch it disappear.
A frog that gave birth through her mouth. Today, the only ones left are in museums and freezers.
But frozen cells can wait.
And one day, she might still teach us how a stomach can switch off its own acid.
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