The Surinam toad is the rainforest amphibian famous for giving birth to fully formed young that emerge from pockets in the female’s back. Its scientific name is Pipa pipa, and it lives in slow-moving freshwater across northern South America.
During breeding, the male helps place the fertilized eggs onto the female’s back. Her skin grows around them, forming individual cells or pockets. After development, the young emerge as miniature toads rather than as free-swimming tadpoles. This unusual reproductive strategy protects the offspring during a vulnerable stage.
Surinam toads are flattened, aquatic animals with rough, leaf-like bodies that help them blend into muddy water and debris. Their eyes are on top of the head, and they use sensitive fingers to locate food. They eat aquatic invertebrates and small fish, often swallowing prey rapidly.
The Surinam toad is not the same as the midwife toad, which carries eggs around its hind legs. Nor does it give live birth in the mammalian sense: the young develop in skin pockets after external fertilization.