Mama Chicken?

Great excitement on BBC Breakfast Time about footage from Jersey Zoo showing a 'mother' Mountain chicken frog (Leptodactylus fallax) feeding its tadpoles on unfertilised eggs within a defended foam 'nest' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8185125.stm). The scene was described as 'alien' (I guess, and I may have a minor responsibility here, that this term now means anything that looks a bit unusual to the 'person in the street'). Parental care is, however, surprisingly common in fish, amphibia and reptiles as relatively modest improvements in the survival of young can greatly increase its parent's chances of passing on its genes to the next generation (so it makes good evolutionary sense to use resources for this where animals have the capacity). Somewhat more concerning was the report that chytridiomycosis (the fungal infection decimating amphibia populations in all parts of the world) has now reached the two remaining island locations (Dominica and Montserrat) of this very large frog, perhaps restricting its survival to zoos.