Our amphibian friends are one of the first animals that come
to mind when we with about calls and sounds made in the animal world. In the
amphibian world the frogs in particular use their sound and rhythm capabilities
in different and unique ways.
The Water frogs are one of those sound and rhythm producing
amphibians (Schneider, 2009). The mating calls
are said to be temperature related, meaning that the organisms will only
produce these calls when the temperature (Schneider, 2009). The mating calls of
the different species of water frogs are produced at different megahertz
meaning that the different calls only reach the female frogs of the same
species (Schneider, 2009). There are also
other species of frogs which make distinct calls.
The leptodactylidae frog is another sound producing
amphibian. These frogs produce their call in short pulses which is repeated in
a specific pattern (Penna, 1997). These patterns are
species – specific, meaning that each species produces their call in a slightly
different pattern only recognizable by the frogs themselves (Penna, 1997).
There is one more frog which has the ability to produce its call in a unique
way.
The bufonid frog (Atelopus franciscus) also
produces distinct calls to one another (Boistel, 2011). Like any other male
frog the bufonid males make calls to defend their territories and to attract
females (Boistel, 2011). These calls prove successful
for these animals for all the calls purposes but theses frogs are very individual
in the way that they produce these calls. The bufonid frogs do not have a
external vocal sac, this sac in most other frogs is the way that they project
their calls so that all the individuals around them can hear it (Boistel, 2011). Without this vocal
sac the bufonid frogs can only produce a low intensity call (Boistel, 2011). Also the bufonid frogs lack tympanum (Boistel, 2011). The tympanum, in
frogs, is essentially the frogs hearing (Boistel, 2011). This therefore
makes these frogs deaf (Boistel, 2011) This all being said
these frogs are still able to produce these calls and there is no evidence to
show that the other individuals are struggling to hear the calls (Boistel, 2011). This just goes to
show that sometime the impossible can be possible.
Works Cited
Boistel, R., 2011.
Whispering to the Deaf: Communication by a frog without External vocal sac or
tympanum in Noisy Environments. plos one , 6(7).
Penna, M., 1997. Selectivity of Evoked Vocal Responses
in the time domain by frog of the genus Batrachyla. Journal of herpetology
, 31(2), pp. 202-217.
Schneider, H., 2009. Mating calls of water frogs from
lake skutari yugoslavia and the relationship to water frogs of other regions. Journal
of zoological systematics and evolutionay Research , 26(4), pp. 261-275.
Images used
3) http://novataxa.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/2009-pelophryne-saravacensis-borneo.html
That’s very cool information about Bufonid frogs. How does the sound production of toads differ to that of frogs? Is there much variation amongst the toads and frogs, or are there basic distinct mechanisms of sound production in these two groups?
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