Tungara Frog

• Its call carries a lethal cost: adding the second part of the call multiplies its appeal to females, but it also alerts the bat that hunts it by listening for exactly that note. The frog adjusts its call according to the risk.
• The bat does not detect it by sound alone: it also uses the ripples the call makes on the surface of the water, which persist after the frog falls silent, so falling silent is not enough to escape.
• It whips up a foam nest with its hind legs while spawning, and that foam protects the eggs from drying out, from heat and from predators until they hatch.
• It is one of the world's most studied animals in sexual selection research, and its call is the reason.
• The male gives a basic whine to which he can add one or more final chucks. Females clearly prefer calls with chucks, so adding them increases his breeding success.
• But the chuck comes at a cost: frog-eating bats of the genus Trachops use it to locate the males. The male is caught between attracting females and attracting predators, and adjusts his call according to how many rivals and how much risk he perceives.
• The bat does not just hear the sound. Studies have shown that it also detects the ripples the call creates on the water surface, so falling silent in time is not enough to hide.
• The female whips the male's secretion with her legs into a floating foam nest where she lays the eggs, protecting them from desiccation and from predators.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (amphibian)

Habitat & environment

Temporary pools, ditches and waterlogged ground of tropical America

Sexual maturity

10 months

Gestation / incubation

Larval development in foam nests

Litter / clutch size

250 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engystomops_pustulosus