SONGS OF FROG SPECIES

About:

• It was known that birds sing different songs depending on context, yet this kind of behaviour has not been documented among the so-called simpler animals, the anurans (frogs and toads).
  
  
• This study, conducted by researchers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, has been published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
  
  
• The group studied two species of frog – Humayun’s Night Frog (Nyctibatrachus humayuni) and Amboli Bush Frog (Pseudophilautus amboli). Both species of anurans are endemic to the Western Ghats.
  
  
• While N. humayuni produces calls with two notes (ascending and descending), P. amboli produces calls with six-note types.
  
  
• This is the first study to examine “sequences” of vocalisations in frogs.