The Gastric Brooding Frog, or Northern Gastric Brooding Frog, is native to southern Australia and, because of its strange breeding habits, has been subjected to intense scrutiny. Unfortunately, it is believed that they are now extinct in the wild.

Gastric Brooding Frogs are mainly aquatic. They live under rocks or in other hiding places, or sit submerged in water with only their eyes above the surface. Generally, they are found in shallow swift moving water in rainforest areas. Northern Gastric Brooding Frogs eat insects.

Northern Gastric Brooding Frogs' eyes are on top of their heads, so they can sit underwater but remain aware of their surroundings. Their skins are slimy and their feet show extensive webbing between the toes to aid the frogs in their aquatic lifestyles. Generally, females grow to about 3 inches (76 millimeters) and males about 2 inches (50 millimeters). Tadpoles live off of their yolk sac and do not have mouths or coiled intestines.

First noted in 1984, the Northern Gastric Brooding Frog is now thought to be extinct in the wild. A sighting of one of these creatures in the wild has not been reported since 1985. The only known range it inhabited was the Eungella region of southern Australia. The population depletion occurred for unknown reasons.

Northern Gastric Brooding Frogs cannot fully inflate their lungs when their stomachs are full of young, so you should use special care if handling them.

The Northern Gastric Brooding Frog's breeding behavior makes them unique among frogs, and the breeding process is not fully understood. The Gastric Brooding Frog can actually stop producing hydrochloric acid while carrying its young, which it swallows in egg form. The eggs probably remained in the stomach of the Northern Gastric Brooding Frog for about eight weeks, and the Northern Gastric Brooding Frog hatched her young simply by opening her mouth. The other amazing thing about the Northern Gastric Brooding Frog is that it can carry about 30 young in its stomach. The mother Northern Gastric Brooding Frog stops eating while hatching her eggs, and the tadpoles developing in her stomach have no teeth. Most breeding occurs in spring and summer. If the young frog will not leave the mother's mouth, she re-swallows it, assuming it is not ready.