frog babies

john f. marok  gouache/paper  18"x20"

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a captive male darwin's frog recently coughed up ten babies at a zoo in santiago, chile. the vulnerable species is one of two members of the only genus on earth that rears its young inside of its vocal sac, a job taken on by the males.  "they have a small opening below their tongue. … after the eggs hatch, the male takes the tadpoles into his mouth and manipulates them through that opening and into his vocal sac," explained danté fenolio, a conservation scientist.  "for about 60 days, they go all the way through to development inside his vocal sac. at that point when they are ready,  fully developed, he coughs up fully formed miniatures of an adult."

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