Female Frogs Will Fake Their Own Deaths to Get Out of Mating

Amaze Lab

When women are harassed on the street they might avoid eye contact or wear headphones to drown it all out. In the animal kingdom it turns out female frogs also have a tactic to avoid incessant males, they fake their own deaths.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:03 When women are harassed on the street, they might avoid eye contact or wear headphones to drown it all out.

00:08 And in the animal kingdom, it turns out female frogs also have a tactic to avoid incessant males.

00:13 They fake their own deaths.

00:15 A new study has uncovered the practice, and they say this changes a lot of what we thought we knew about frogs.

00:20 Previously, experts believed that females would simply submit during mating season,

00:24 during what are often referred to as mating balls,

00:27 or where a large number of frogs clump up, with many males vying and competing for mates,

00:31 and as many as six males can crowd onto one female.

00:34 This is where the females' death feigns and other tactics come into play,

00:37 with the researchers saying, quote, "We observed three female avoidance behaviors,

00:41 namely rotation, release calls, and tonic immobility."

00:45 Death feigning.

00:46 Most females, 83%, would attempt to twist their bodies to get away from their mates.

00:50 A further 48% would use release calls, where they would actually mimic the sounds of males.

00:55 And 25% would then fake their own death until released,

00:58 with the researchers finding that it worked better than other means,

01:01 especially for smaller female frogs.

01:04 [music]

01:08 (music)

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