The Act Of Mating Between Anurans And Songbirds

In the animal kingdom, a species’ sole goal of existence is to survive and pass on its genes through reproduction and further populate the planet with it’s own kind. The act of mating between a male and female is how most species biologically create life and it’s pivotal to ensure their own species will continue existence. How two animals from the same species mate is as unique as each individual. With there being millions of different organisms on one planet, this creates millions of different ways to attract the opposite sex to procreate a long lasting bloodline. The vertebrate orders anurans (frogs and toads) and passerine (songbirds) though completely different are both extensively studied, as they are exemplary on how individualistic mating

It’s necessary to analyze a few to understand how the environment and biological makeup of a frog vary its advertisement calls. The bullfrog attracts its mates through the use of stuttering. A call begins with a simple croak that will begin to stutter up to four times. The stuttering is aimed toward females, while non-stuttered calls are relayed as aggression toward other males. The differentiation of sounds is used to translate different messages toward females and males. The Puerto Rican Coqui frogs produce a two-note advertisement called the “coqui”. This call can be as loud as a subway platform reaching an impressive 100 decibels from an average male’s 1.3inch body. The “co” note is used to compete with other males, while the “qui” note attracts females. Because the Coqui frog produces such loud sounds to garner as much attention from females as possible, the sound relays a defensive message to other males as well. The last species study I’m going to discuss is the Tungara frog. The males produce an advertisement call “whine” with a down swept frequency and harmonics. A “chunk” is then added to the whine to specifically communicate and attract females. The paradox is although the added chunk localizes and attracts potential, it also garners the attention of the bat, the frogs prey. This is a known risk the Tungara frog takes in hopes of finding a mate. All of the aforementioned species of frog use sound as the chosen technique to attract mates in hopes of procreation. This is also evident by their adaption, as many frogs reside in cacophonous environments such as the rain forest where distinct and uproarious sound is needed to be distinct. Most likely only the loudest of frogs are able to find mates and thus pass their genes to the next