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Photographs supposedly showing a frog with eyes on the inside of its mouth is frequently circulated on social media: We have not been able to source these images, which first went viral in late 2016 when they were shared along with a brief piece of text claiming that this mutation was the result of a parasite. We might be a little skeptical of these images on their own, but these are not the only photographs that depict a frog (or toad) with this odd mutation. Scott Gardner, a photographer with the Hamilton Spectator, captured a similar image that showed a toad with eyes on the inside of its mouth circa 1992. In fact, Gardner's photograph is often circulated side-by-side with the frog featured in the above-displayed image set: The BBC wrote about Gardner's photograph (right) in 2014, explaining that this odd-looking amphibian was found by two little girls in Ontario, Canada, in the early 1990s: In an article entitled The Toad And I published by Toronto.com, Gardner recounted the moment he first encountered this toad: Gardner's photograph has been featured in several different publications. Perhaps most famously, it was included in evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkin's 1996 book Climbing Mount Improbable. It's not clear what caused this mutation, but the BBC noted that it may have been the result of a parasitic infection: It's also worth noting that, although it is certainly unusual for a frog or toad to have eyes inside of its mouth, this macromutation doesn't place the eyes far from their normal position. In fact, generally speaking, some frogs may retract their eyes when they are eating to help them swallow. Here's an excerpt from a 2004 study this examined this unique manipulation of eyeballs: Natural historian David Attenborough also showcased this phenomenon in his Fabulous Frogs documentary for the BBC:
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