It's a frog that's pretty bizarre but also weirdly sweet and adorable.

我是安娜，歡迎收看《Gross Science》

Sadly, it went extinct just before I was born, so I thought I'd never get the chance to

1972年，胃育蛙首次在澳洲昆士蘭州被發現

see it.

牠們看起來很普通，就像一般看到的褐色和綠色的青蛙

But a few years ago, scientists tried to bring it back from the dead.

但是牠們生育孩子的方式可一點都不普通

I'm Anna and this is Gross Science.

首先雌蛙會產卵，而雄蛙在外頭使卵受精

Gastric-brooding frogs were first found in Queensland, Australia in 1972.

到這裡都很普通

They looked pretty normal—just your average brownish, greenish frog.

但接下來，母蛙會吞下這將近40顆的卵

But there was nothing average about how they gave birth.

你可能會想這太可怕了

A female frog would lay her eggs, and a male frog would fertilize them externally.

畢竟無論是青蛙還是人 胃裡通常都會有強酸用來消化你吃下的食物

So far so normal.

00:01:08,719 --> 00:01:14,119 然而這些卵似乎能夠分泌某種物質使母蛙的胃停止分泌酸液

But then, the mother frog would swallow the eggs—around 40 of them!

00:01:14,619 --> 00:01:21,500 這表示母蛙在懷孕期間不能進食 以人類的角度來看好像很可怕

You'd think this would be a terrible idea.

不過這些青蛙似乎能做到

After all, stomachs—whether they be frog or human—usually contain strong acid to

最後這些卵孵出了小蝌蚪

break down your last meal.

而蝌蚪們會釋放粘液 其中內含更多阻止胃酸分泌的化學物質

But the eggs likely contained a chemical that made the mother's stomach stop producing

這些蝌蚪寶寶們繼續在胃裡待6個星期，漸漸長大

acid.

大到會壓著媽媽的肺臟

That meant the mother couldn't eat during her pregnancy, which from a human perspective

還好青蛙們能透過皮膚呼吸，所以母蛙並不會窒息而死

seems awful, but the frogs seemed to make do.

終於，蝌蚪們變為幼蛙，母蛙會把牠們吐出來

Eventually, tadpoles would hatch from the eggs.

通常一次一隻，需要好幾天

And the tadpoles would release mucus that contained more of that acid-blocking chemical.

不過據說如果被激怒 牠們有些會像發射子彈般一次吐出所有幼蛙

The babies would continue to grow in the stomach for another 6 weeks, getting so big that they'd

雖然吐出寶寶聽起來有點毛骨悚然 不過想像一下還是挺溫馨的

compress the mother's lungs.

這種被稱為胃育的生殖方式

Luckily, these frogs could also breathe through their skin, so the mothers didn't suffocate.

是為了讓寶寶們在最脆弱的時期裡受母親照顧

Finally, the tadpoles would metamorphose into baby frogs, and the mother would vomit them

它真的很像人類懷孕...只是寶寶是從另個地方生出來

up—usually one at a time over a few days.

總而言之，以前這種青蛙有2種 但都在1980年代中期絕種了

Though, when provoked some were known to projectile vomit all their babies out at once.

凶手可能是一種 現已對兩棲類構成主要威脅的侵入性真菌

While barfing up your babies sounds...horrible...it's kinda sweet when you think about it.

而它也可能是人類幫忙傳到全球的

Gastric-brooding, as this strategy is called, is a way to keep your babies close to you

它就是蛙壺菌。這種真菌會攻擊青蛙的皮膚

and safe while they're most vulnerable.

而青蛙們的皮膚包含 呼吸、保濕，還有調節體溫等重要功能

It's really a lot like human pregnancy…only the babies come out the other end…

因此這些寄生菌可以輕易殺死它的宿主

Anyway, there were two species of these frogs, but both went extinct by the mid-80s.

而蛙壺菌亦具有高度傳染性。 西元2013年以前，它已對世界上42%的蛙類造成威脅

The culprit was likely an invasive fungus—one that poses a major threat to amphibians worldwide,

00:02:58,870 --> 00:03:02,550 失去這些青蛙將讓人痛心疾首

and that humans likely helped to spread around the globe.

這不僅是指全世界的生態系統將發生重大影響 我們也會失去美麗的生物多樣性

It's called chytrid fungus and it affects a frog's skin.

然而仍然有許多或許能幫助人類健康和福祉的事情，

Because frogs use their skin for crucial functions like breathing, staying hydrated, and regulating

是我們必須從這些物種身上學習的

their temperature, the parasite can easily kill its victims.

就拿胃育蛙來說

And it's highly contagious—by 2013 it had put 42% of the world's frog species

如果我們有更多時間去研究它， 也許就能加以了解它是如何防止胃酸產生的

in danger.

進而一窺究竟並幫助人們的腸胃問題

Losing all these frogs would be, in a word, devastating.

00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:39,500 於是在2013年，科學家們開始了一個 名為《The Lazarus Project》的計畫打算復育胃育蛙

Not only would it have major impacts on ecosystems worldwide, and be a loss of beautiful biodiversity,

00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:46,030 他們從冷凍的標本中獲取細胞， 複製DNA到其他種青蛙的卵上

but there is so much we still have to learn from these creatures that might be beneficial

最後創造出一個活的胃育蛙胚胎

to human health and well-being.

它只大約存活了三天，但科學家們並不放棄嘗試

Take the gastric-brooding frog.

這讓一些研究人員看到了希望 「終止滅絕」這個讓滅絕物種復活的方法

If we'd had more time to study it, maybe we could have learned more about how it turns

有一天至少能幫助我們復原一些已失去的生物多樣性

off stomach acid production, potentially revealing some insights that could help humans with

常常都是因為人們對環境的破壞

GI problems.

但顯然這是有爭議的

Consequently, back in 2013, some scientists began a project to resurrect the gastric-brooding

我想大多數科學家都同意 「終止滅絕」是保護物種的最後手段

frog.

這絕不意味著我們應該停止保護和保存瀕危物種

They took cells from a frozen specimen, cloned the DNA into the egg of another frog species,

不過，雖然我不能對倫理道德的問題多說什麼

and ended up creating a living gastric-brooding frog embryo.

我得承認心底裡一部份的我 是很期待見到胃育蛙吐出它的寶寶們的

It only survived for about three days, but they haven't given up trying.

00:05:00,250 --> 00:05:21,890

And it's made some researchers hopeful that “de-extinction”—the process of bringing

extinct species back to life—will one day be a solution for reviving at least some of

the valuable biodiversity we've lost, often due to humans' impact on the environment.

Obviously, this is a controversial idea.

And, I think most scientists would agree that de-extinction is a last-gasp effort in conservation.

It in no way means we should stop protecting and preserving the at-risk species we have.

That said, while I can't speak to the ethics of the situation, I will admit that there's

a pretty big part of me that would love to see a gastric-brooding frog vomiting up its

babies.

Ew.