The Woman Who Gave Birth to a Frog

The BBC is reporting that a woman in Iran has given birth to a frog. Doctors are speculating that a frog larva somehow got into her uterus while she was swimming, and then grew inside her to a full-sized frog. That seems very unlikely to me. What would a frog feed on inside a person's body? Wouldn't the frog suffocate? Actually, the brief article seems a bit ambiguous on whether it's definitely a frog that came out of her, or if it's a baby that looks rather frog-like. Either way, this case immediately reminded me of Mary Toft, the 18th-century English woman who gave birth to rabbits. Of course, Mary Toft didn't really give birth to rabbits. She stuffed rabbits inside herself and then pretended to give birth to them. It seems possible this Iranian woman is pulling a Mary Toft.

Birth/Babies

Posted on Sun Jun 27, 2004


Comments

You need a fourth choice in your survey: "The story is nonsense."

BTW, a "frog larva" is a tadpole. They live on algae. No, they couldn't survive inside a human uterus.
Posted by Carl Fink  on  Mon Jun 28, 2004  at  06:31 AM
The article I read about this was obscure and confusing. A part of it suggests it was a child with frog like features.

Anyway, a picture would be nice to get a better idea.
Posted by The Mexx  on  Mon Jun 28, 2004  at  10:07 AM
Life rabbits?
Posted by Chipo  on  Mon Jun 28, 2004  at  04:41 PM
this reminded me of X-files series. well Carl if it really was crap it wouldn't go on bbc. there is definately some thing about this story, some thing real that's not being told to every one.
Posted by maryann  on  Tue Jun 29, 2004  at  04:11 AM
The BBC is reporting that "An Iranian newspaper has reported...".

The BBC does have a sense of humour/the absurd
Posted by Peter  on  Tue Jun 29, 2004  at  04:19 AM
Is this the same BBC who reported the 49-foot python, Winston Churchill's parrot and the man with foot and mouth disease (who was even interviewed on the radio)?
Posted by Lawrence Mayes  on  Tue Jun 29, 2004  at  06:10 AM
quoth the beeb (with a serious demeanor that would do The Enquirer proud):
"While it is unclear how this could have happened..."

and it is accompanied by a picture of a frog (captioned "Tests are being carried out on the frog"), implying this is the frog to which the woman gave birth.

You have to love the way the bbc both distances themselves from the story (An Iraninan newspaper has reported....) and endorses it (by repeating it).

Thanks be to Allah, the blogosphere (with a little google-help) finds the origin of the photo:

http://weblog.sinteur.com/index.php?p=5287

credited to Peter Morgan, Reuters.

Unanswered questions (and, in the Beeb story, unasked) include how an Iranian woman gave birth to a Chinese Gliding Frog (distribution according to the Amphibian Species of the World database http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html {search on Polypedates dennysi} is "Southern China west to Sichuan and Guizhou; Myanmar; expected in adjacent Vietnam") or how the particular animial she bore came to be on display in the exhibit "Frogs!" at the American Museum of Natural History in New York
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/frogs/gallery/featured.php?image=5&page=featured/parachuting
Posted by David  on  Wed Jun 30, 2004  at  12:59 AM
I forwarded this story to some women when it first appeared on BBC. I reminded them all that you are only supposed to kiss the damn frog not, well, you know, get THAT familiar with it. Frog babies probably bring great joy but, a word to the wise, you will get a reputation for being a huge slut and of being an advocate for interspecies dating/mating, a practice frowned upon even here in MA. Dirty pool, indeed!
Posted by sheila hines  on  Sun Jul 11, 2004  at  01:30 PM
This has got to be the biggest load of nonsence i have ever heard- if it was real it would have created much more of a stir and America would probably have gained a Blockuster movie out of it. It could have been called Manfrog the Early Days or something.
Posted by Becky Hughes  on  Wed Sep 08, 2004  at  10:09 AM
Belated comment: I notice that the picture of the supposed frog-baby from the original Eternaad story (saved here at Stinky Journalism) is itself a fabrication. It's an image of a one-legged frog from the website of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Posted by Ray Girvan  on  Fri Sep 24, 2004  at  05:42 AM
Oops! "Etemaad", not "Eternaad".
Posted by Ray Girvan  on  Fri Sep 24, 2004  at  05:44 AM
i think this article may clear this question up:

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/0306/0623frogs.html

the iranian woman was a little "lonely" and got caught. you have to read quite a bit of the article to get to the relevent section.
Posted by bugbear sloth  on  Sun Oct 17, 2004  at  05:41 AM
Eww...
Posted by Maegan  on  Tue Nov 16, 2004  at  01:34 PM
This is actually caused by chemical disease and exposure to a certain chemical. There have been cases of this in Texas in relation to the Maquiladoras factories.
Posted by Brendan Strain  on  Mon Feb 19, 2007  at  07:28 PM
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