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Situational sexual behaviour of green poison-dart frogs

The male green poison-dart frog is able to deliver bold mating calls to females while being less conspicuous to potential predators.

Research by the Universidad de Costa Rica looked into whether the green variants of the granular poison frog were more or less conspicuous to potential mates and predators than red ones of the same species.

It showed that green frogs adjust their behaviour according to the situation.

When viewed against dark backgrounds, green frogs may appear as bright as red frogs to members of their own species, but not to birds.

In other contexts, when the mating opportunity is certain, green males appear to trade-off the risk of predation for the mate-securing benefits of bold behaviour.

Read more at Universidad de Costa Rica

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