Page 71 - Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of God

Selfless Devotion of Creatures Within the Family

their mouths full of their marble-sized eggs. Sometimes they gurgle
with their mouths to increase the eggs' oxygen supply. After the eggs
hatch, they stay in the mouth of the male catfish for a few more weeks.
During this period, the male sustains himself by drawing from his fat re-
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serves and hardly ever eats.
Another species that carries its young in its mouth is the frog.
Rhinoderma carries its spawn inside itself. In the mating season, the fe-
males lay their eggs onto the ground, and the males gather to form a
protective shield around the eggs. As the eggs develop, they begin to
wobble within their globes of jelly, signaling for the males to come for-
ward. They pick up the eggs and take them into their vocal sacs, which

are unusually large. The eggs develop inside. One day, the male frog
retches several times, then opens up its mouth wide and fully developed
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froglets emerge from his mouth.
Another species of frog, native to Australia, does not keep its eggs
in a separate sac, but swallows them down to its stomach. But while the
offspring inside the stomach are protected from the external world, still
they are exposed to a great danger from the acidic stomach juices that
can digest eggs. Therefore, if the female continues to secrete stomach
juices as she usually does, she will digest her own young. But, this does
not happen because preventive measures kick in. When the frog swal-
lows her spawn, her stomach ceases to secrete digestive juices, so that

For weeks, this
species of frog
carries its own
eggs attached
around his hind
legs.

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