The males in a species of tree frog have been using city storm drains to help them find romance.
Kurixalus diootocus, mientien tree frogs, have discovered that the drains amplify sound, so the males have been using them to make their mating calls louder and longer, Discovery News reported.
"Structures, such as wall surfaces, may change the acoustic environment for signals transmitted by animals," study authors Wen-Hao Tan and colleagues wrote, "creating novel environments that animals must either adapt to or abandon."
A researcher at the Department of Life Science at National Taiwan University, Tan worked with a team to conduct field experiments with the mientien tree frogs and publish the findings in the Journal of Zoology.
They found that the male frogs "selected perches inside drains that facilitated call transmission," while "females have been observed coming to drains or perching on nearby vegetation," according to the study, as quoted by Discovery News.
Female frogs are attracted to males with the most intense mating calls, which is likely why male frogs are taking advantage of drain acoustics. Native to Taiwan, the frog species is small and calls with a higher pitch than other Taiwanese frogs, making drains especially helpful for the males.
While the drains serve to amplify the mating calls, they may get the male frogs into trouble as well. The practice is for females to carry the males to another place where eggs can be laid, but females may have problems carrying the males out of a storm drain, The Washington Post reported.
"For example, it may be physically demanding for females to carry males up vertical walls," the authors wrote. "Thus, drains could be ecological traps if they in fact reduce reproductive success of individuals attending choruses in drains."
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