National Geographic: Australias Animal Mysteries Page #6

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captured animals have been sent to

the Zoology Department

at the University of Adelaide

for study by Michael Tyler.

one of the countries

foremost takes on ton-frog.

Spending their daylight hours

hidden under rocks

these frogs are the most light sensitive

and shy of any Tyler has ever seen.

The only way he has been able to

observe them successfully

is to remove them from

their regular aquarium.

In a specially built tank with

one-way glass windows,

the frogs will be unaware

of Tyler's presence.

Because many have died in captivity

and in recent years

no more have been found in the wild,

these two remain to

unlock the mysteries of

some of the most unusual

animal behavior ever recorded.

But though action like this free-falling

is bizarre and unexplained,

it is the animal's reproduction

that has most electrified the world.

What is so unusual about the

gastric-brooding frog

is the fact that it carries

its young in its stomach.

Superimposed on an X ray,

an artist's conception follows

the growth of some two dozen tadpoles

until, at roughly eight weeks,

the female's stomach is completely

distended

with fully developed frogs

ready to be born.

The mother opens her mouth and then

she dilates her esophagus

and the babies pop up from the stomach

one or two at a time,

and sit upon her tongue.

And then they sit and look around,

look at the world outside,

and then just very, very gently step out.

Tyler's rare photo of an actual birth

has made headlines around the world.

Here we have an animal

which can switch off

acid being produced in the stomach.

An awareness that that would be an

extremely novel way

of being perhaps able to treat people

who might need to be able to

make use of that as an advantage.

For an example, during the treatment

for peptic ulcers,

it would be so useful to be able to

switch off gastric acid

secretion totally for a period of

time and do it very, very readily.

I say it's a long, long way.

between what we've done so far

and such a thing as a possibility.

But, I mean,

in the matter of a few years ago

no one would have dreamed

that the existence of this frog

with this habit could

possibly occur and so,

with that in mind,

I don't think it's impossible

or too far fetched to maintain hopes

that is may have clinical application.

In the reptile world,

Australia stands out as the continent

with the largest proportion

of venomous snakes.

The death adder is one of the

country's most poisonous snakes.

Without treatment,

half of its human victims will die.

Like all snake,

the death adder feeds primarily

on small animals like lizards.

Its approach is neither

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