Category: Amphibians
The horned marsupial frog is an arboreal species native to the tropical moist lowland forests and montane cloud forests of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama. Their upper eyelid has a triangular peak, giving them a quizzical, alert appearance. This species lays the largest known eggs of any amphibian! Females brood their eggs in a pouch on their lower back until they emerge as fully developed froglets.
Only a Mother’s Love…
We are taught that toads leave their fertilized eggs in the water in long strings, which hatch into tadpoles, who live in the water until they grow legs and lungs and become toads. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, there always has to be an exception to the rule: the male Suriname toad implants eggs into the female’s back, which sink into her skin and forms pockets where the eggs eventually hatch into tadpoles. These tadpoles live on their mother’s back until transforming into toads, at which point they burrow out of her skin in a fascinating or horrifying (or both) display, depending on your perspective.
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