Female frogs fake their deaths to avoid males during mating season
Reptilians find creative ways of getting out of being harmed during mating season.
Avoiding someone can be a tricky affair. Sometimes it so happens that when you avoid someone you don't want to see, it's at those times that you encounter them.
And in the world of dating, it can be a cut-throat experience.
But it seems female European common frogs have found an easier way out of getting out of unwanted male attention.
We are here for this kind of response to mating season.
"According to a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers found that nearly one-third of females lay motionless on their backs to get out of mating with males." (Instagram)
In other words, the female frogs find creative ways to distract their male counterparts by acting dead.
It may sound amusing, but the truth is male frogs can harm female frogs when they attempt to mate with them and so, the females seek out interesting ways of getting rid of them.
Playing dead is the most interesting mechanism to ward off male frogs but it isn't the only mechanism.
"In addition to playing dead, scientists observed two more avoidance behaviours: release calls and rotations in which they twist their bodies to get out of the grip of the males." (Instagram)
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