Scientists Found Female Frogs Sometimes Play Dead to Avoid Mating with Unwanted Males — And Here’s the Strange Reason Behind It

Have you ever tried playing dead to avoid mating with an unwanted mate? Well, humans can just ghost or sometimes downright ignore people, but male frogs could be aggressive, prompting their females to come up with a unique way of avoiding mating.

Just imagine being a female frog in a pond filled with males during the mating season. This scenario could make you feel trapped and in danger. Well, it’s because you are. Female frogs could be injured or even drown during this process. So, in some cases, they have developed a unique way to survive. But, is that really all there is to it? Let’s explore this idea more.

Female Frogs Fake Death to Escape Mating

Scientists observed that female European common frogs exhibit a state where they are stiff, arms and legs stretched out, and stay perfectly still. This is called tonic immobility, a phenomenon that replicates rigor mortis while being alive.

 For the European common frog, the breeding season is short and very explosive. Ponds and wetlands become filled right away, often with a higher number of males than females. This scenario creates a very competitive atmosphere among males to secure a female to mate with.

This process could involve a large number of males jumping and latching onto females at once, creating an environment called a mating ball. With this amount of frogs, the females could get overwhelmed, being injured in the process if they are lucky, because they more commonly drown.

Read more: The Royal Society Publishing

Why Play Dead? Mating Pressure and Danger

NOT TONIGHT -- Female Frogs Play Dead To Avoid Horny Males

There is an old assumption that females of this frog species are passive during the mating season. However, the researchers have documented several tactics that females use to avoid mating with aggressive and often unwanted males.

These are strategies that are used both individually and in combination with playing dead. First is bodily rotation, where if a male has already latched onto a female, she can twist her body to try to dislodge and then escape.

Another tactic is called release calls, where female frogs would replicate the sound the males make to signal to other males that they are not a female. Due to confusion, a male frog that is already latched onto the female may let go, thinking he mistakenly grabbed a male. Then, if all else fails, they will use the tonic immobility as a final resort to escape.

Other Animals Use “Playing Dead” Too

Tonic immobility or thanatosis, the act of pretending their death to escape danger, is not a feature unique to this frog species. Other animals do the same practice for a variety of reasons. For example, Virginia opossums, when they feel threatened to be eaten, will enter a coma-like state, subconsciously. They will go stiff, with slowed breathing, and release a foul smell to try to replicate the illusion of a decaying body.

Hognose snakes also do the same thing, but in a more dramatic way. If there is a risk of being eaten, these snakes will roll onto their backs, open their mouth and hang their tongues outside, and also release a bad smell to convince the predator that they are dead.

So, in this regard, female frogs may be unique in using the tactic to avoid predators, to escape mating with unwanted males. However, at its core, it is still about survival; they are doing it mainly because there’s a risk of dying, combined with the pressure of only being able to mate once a year, so they need to be selective.

Read more: The Guardian

What This Behavior Teaches Us

Female frogs fake their own death to avoid unwanted attention from males: Study

This behavior teaches us that even the smallest of creatures could come up with the most unique ways of staying safe or avoiding unwanted mates. This is a strategy that highlights how evolution could still find a way to solve a problem that fits into a specific environment.

In the case of European common frogs, the study reveals that females are not as passive as we once thought. They can somehow assert control during a very stressful scenario. By pretending to be dead, they have a chance to escape and choose the male with whom they want to procreate.

Author's Final Thoughts

Female frogs pretending to be dead to keep away from unwanted males, which is a tactic used by other animals to avoid predators and be eaten, is very fascinating. It shows how different species could come up with their own way of protecting themselves, based on the unique challenges they face.

Read next: Female Octopuses Throw Shells at Annoying Males — Here’s Why They Do It and How It Works