Some female frogs fake death to avoid sex – scientists
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Females of the European common toad may feign death to avoid mating with multiple males mating at the same time.
They can also turn over on their backs, grunt, in order to save their lives in the future, according to a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, writes Live Science.
European common frogs (Rana temporaria) are known as “explosive” breeders. They gather in dozens to mate in ponds. There are usually more males than females, so six or more “males” can simultaneously compete to sit on a female in what is known as a “mating ball”.
“In some cases, the female may be killed in these mating balls. Instead of being passive and helpless, we found that females can use three key strategies (rolling onto their backs, grunting and feigning death) to avoid males they don’t want to mate with – or because they’re not ready to breed , or do not want to mate with a certain male,” – said researcher from the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, Caroline Diettrich.
| Photo: StreetFlash/Depositphotos |
For the experiment, scientists collected male and female European common frogs from a pond during the breeding season. They separated them into tanks filled with water. There were two females and one male in each of them.
For an hour, the scientists observed the actions of the frogs.
Of the 54 females grabbed by a male, 83% turned onto their backs in response. Because of this, the male ends up under water and retreats so as not to drown, scientist Dtitrich explained.
The team also found that 48% of females sat on by males grunted and squealed. According to Diettrich, the grunts mimicked the “release calls” that male frogs usually make to prevent other males from mounting them.
“But it’s not clear what the high-frequency beeps are signaling,” – she added.
And a third of the females lay motionless with outstretched limbs for about 2 minutes after the male sat on them.
“It seems to us that the female is pretending to be dead, although we cannot prove that this is a deliberate behavior. It may just be an automatic response to stress“, the scientist noted.
The researchers also found that younger and smaller females used all three containment strategies. Older females were less likely to fake their own death.
Diettrich hypothesizes that younger females are more stressed when mounted by males, even with only a small number of breeding seasons. Therefore, 46% of the females, on which the male sat, successfully escaped.
Scientists note that the conditions for experiments are significantly different from wild nature. In addition, faking death as an escape strategy is only found in a few species of butterflies, spiders, and sharp-edged newts.
Read also: How did dinosaurs have sex?
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