Scientists finally record Amazon frog’s ear-piercing screams

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Scientists have finally managed to record the ear-piercing screams {that a} frog within the Amazon rainforest makes to defend in opposition to predators.

It’s the primary reported case of using ultrasound by an amphibian in South America, in accordance with a research printed within the journal Acta Ethologica.

While ultrasound will be ear-piercing for a lot of animals, it is inaudible to people.

“Some potential predators of amphibians, such as bats, rodents and small primates, are able to emit and hear sounds at this frequency, which humans can’t,” Dr Ubiratã Ferreira Souza, a co-author of the research, mentioned.

“One of our hypotheses is that the distress call is addressed to some of these, but it could also be the case that the broad frequency band is generalist in the sense that it’s supposed to scare as many predators as possible.”

Scientists additionally suspect that the scream might be a name to draw one other animal to assault the predator threatening the leaf litter frog, a species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest.

“Could it be the case that the call is meant to attract an owl that will attack a snake that’s about to eat the frog?” Dr Souza mentioned.

In the research, researchers analysed the frog’s sound utilizing particular software program and located that it had a frequency vary of seven kHz to 44 kHz.

The human listening to vary is between 20Hz and 20,000Hz, something over which is classed as ultrasound.

The researchers discovered that whereas making its signature name, the frog’s actions are typical of defence in opposition to predators – elevating the entrance of its physique, opening its mouth broad, and jerking its head backwards.

The frog additionally partially closes its mouth and emits one other kind of name that ranges from a frequency band audible to people, 7 kHZ-20 kHz, to an inaudible ultrasound band, 20 kHz-44 kHz.

“The use of broad-band screams synchronously with other behaviours, such as raising the front of the body while arching the back and extreme mouth-gaping, intensified the defensive display, likely being more efficient in deterring predation,” the research mentioned.

Given that Brazil has the best amphibian density on this planet, the researchers suspect different frogs within the area can also emit sounds at these frequencies.