The toad whose babies erupt out of its own back
This toad's babies erupt out of dozens of holes in their mother's own back.
Which one is REALLY true about the Surinam Toad?
The short version
The Surinam toad is a flat, leaf-like amphibian whose eggs get embedded into the skin of the mother's back, each sealing into its own pocket. After weeks, dozens of fully formed baby toads burst out through holes in her back. It's harmless to her but famously unsettling to see.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Surinam Toad carries its eggs embedded in the skin of its own back, each sealed into its own little pocket.
- ✓The Surinam Toad lets dozens of fully formed baby toads burst out through holes in its back after weeks.
- ✓The Surinam Toad is left riddled with empty pits, which it eventually sheds.
- ✓The Surinam Toad spends almost its entire life underwater, flat and leaf-like.
- ✓The Surinam Toad uses tiny star-shaped tips on its fingers to feel for food in the murky dark.
You could line up about 6 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This toad gives birth in one of the most disturbing ways in all of nature, straight out of its own back. Meet the Surinam toad, a strange, flat, leaf-like amphibian from South America. During mating, the female's eggs get pressed onto her back, and her skin slowly grows over them, sealing each egg into its own little pocket. For weeks, the eggs develop inside her spongy skin, where you can sometimes see tiny shapes squirming just beneath the surface. Then, all at once, dozens of fully formed baby toads burst out through the holes in her back and swim away. The mother is left riddled with empty pits, which she eventually sheds. This flat toad spends almost its entire life underwater, using the tiny star-shaped tips on its fingers to feel for food in the murky dark. It is completely harmless to her, but absolutely the stuff of nightmares to look at. Follow for more weird animal facts.
When the toads mate underwater, the male presses the fertilized eggs onto the mother's back. Her skin there swells and grows up around each egg, sealing it inside its own tiny pocket with a thin lid on top. Safe in these pockets, each egg develops the whole way into a fully formed baby toad — it never becomes a free-swimming tadpole like most frogs. This hides the eggs from hungry animals in the open water, and when the babies leave, the mother simply sheds the worn-out layer of skin.
📚 Source: Surinam Toad | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants ↗Scientists who examined brooding females found each egg sealed inside a skin cyst capped by a horny lid, and saw that what emerges months later is a fully formed toadlet rather than a tadpole, showing the young develop completely inside the mother's back.
📚 Source: Pipa pipa | Animal Diversity Web (University of Michigan) ↗Watch the 45-second version
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“The Surinam Toad carries its eggs embedded in the skin of its own back, each sealed into its own little pocket.”
“The Surinam Toad survived the raw vacuum of space, completely unprotected.”
“The Surinam Toad lets dozens of fully formed baby toads burst out through holes in its back after weeks.”