Treefrogs become easy targets for predators and parasites when they send mating calls, but they’re finding a way to fool their enemies with a little help from a wingman.
Treefrogs become easy targets for predators and parasites when they send mating calls, but they’re finding a way to fool their enemies with a little help from a wingman.
Researchers at Purdue University have discovered that male treefrogs reduce their attractiveness to predators and parasites by overlapping their mating calls with their neighbors. By overlapping their calls at nearly perfect synchrony with neighboring treefrogs, an auditory illusion takes effect and those enemies are more attracted to the leading call, leaving the other frogs to find mates without risking their life. The work was recently published in American Naturalist.
“The male frogs are essentially manipulating the eavesdroppers through creating this auditory illusion,” said doctoral student Henry Legett, who led the research with Ximena Bernal, associate professor of biological sciences at Purdue University. “Humans experience this illusion too, it’s called the ‘Precedence Effect.' When we hear two short sounds in quick succession, we think the sound is only coming from the location of the first sound.”
Read more at Purdue University
Image: Researchers at Purdue University have discovered that male treefrogs reduce their attractiveness to predators and parasites by overlapping their mating calls with their neighbors. CREDIT: Purdue University photo/Henry Legett
