The Southern gastric-brooding frog was first discovered in 1973 by David Liem. It had a very limited range and was never seen to range more than 177 feet from its original home & never more than 3 feet from the water. Because of their slimy, bump skin and mostly aquatic lifestyle they are sometimes referred to as the 'the platypus frog'. No one knows the exact cause of extinction for these two species. Given the fact that the female would protect her brood (up to 26 tadpoles), this also made them vulnerable when the female was eaten by native herons and eels. Humans seemed to have been the direct cause of extinction, although the true killer was accidental. Logging in 1972 & 1979 did change their habitat. Feral pigs also destroyed the habitat around the waterways. The introduction of non-native weeds also changed the flow of water in the streams inhabited by the gastric-brooding frogs. The biggest threat to the 'platypus frogs' and many other frog species is chytrid fungus. Humans accidentally bring this fungus into areas when they go hiking. The spores of the chytrid fungus are picked up by people when they go hiking at home and then distributed when they go hiking on vacation. The chytrid fungus grows in the pores of frogs. Since frogs breathe through these pores in their skin, the chytrid fungus causes the frogs to suffocate. Many other frog species, such as the Panamanian golden frog, are currently extinct in the wild and being bred at zoos like the Maryland Zoo and National Zoo in Washington DC until the chytrid fungus epidemic can be controlled. The last wild Southern gastric-brooding frog was seen in 1979 in the Conondale Range, or in 1981 in the Blackall Ranges. The last captive specimen died in 1983. This led researchers to expand their search for any remaining gastric-brooding frogs. The Northern species was discovered in 1984 in the rainforest areas of the Clarke Range in Eungella National Park by Michael Mahony. Unfortunately, one year later no more Northern gastric-brooding frogs could be found either. Both species are assumed to be extinct. Scientists looking for the Northern gastric-brooding frogs in 1985 found sick and dying Eungella torrent frogs which live in the same habitat. They assume that the Northern gastric-brooding frog died from the same chytrid fungus outbreak. Although Jurassic Park is fiction, scientists are working on several de-extinction projects. In fact, in 2003 scientists did bring back the extinct Pyrenean ibex, a type of wild goat, for 7 minutes before it died, showing de-extinction is possible. The gastric-brooding frog would be a great candidate, because first steps have already been attempted with some success. In 2013, scientists used DNA from a gastric-brooding frog and placed it into a related Australian frog species. The egg did not survive very long, but scientists were able to show that a cloned egg could start the developmental process. Because each attempt started out successfully, with the egg dividing as normal, scientists were excited that the DNA could readily be cloned, but the technique to develop the egg is still being improved. Australia has done a lot to control invasive species since the extinction of the two gastric-brooding frog species, but they would need to find an area that would not be vulnerable to environmental change. Many places with vulnerable frog species have already put in place regulations for washing hiking boots before taking hikes in frog habitats to control chytrid fungus outbreaks. Until it was safe to release them back into their native habitat, scientists could raise a gastric-brooding frog population similar to efforts with the Panamanian golden frogs (see more information about this effort under the "Extinct Species" tab for THE YUNNAN LAKE NEWT. Could the gastric-brooding frog live in Australia today? Only time will tell.