Another Way For Frogs To Communicate
Animals have a unique ability to overcome the obstacles created by their enviroment. However only a small percentage have developed the use of usltrasound as a mechanism for hunting and communication. We can now add the Concave Torrent Frog to the list.
This frog lives in Huangshan Hot Springs in Shanghi. In this area there are mountains and waterfalls. The waterfalls must be a beautiful sight but presented a problem for the local frogs. The load roar of the water mask the lower frequency of mating calls. These frogs then evolved a mating call in males are composed of ultrasound. Albert Feng of the University of Illinois studied these frogs by recording them. The calls at times went beyond the recorder's 128 kilohertz range. addition to the mating calls Feng also was able to disover why frogs don't have external eardrums.
"Thin eardrums are needed for detection of ultrasound," said Feng. "Recessed ears shorten the path between the eardrums and the ear, enabling the transmission of ultrasound to the ear."
The concave torrent frog is an example of how animals evolve to adapt to their enviroment. Before this frogs were never considered to be an animal capable of producing ultrasounds. That role was saved for bats,dolphins and whales. It seems that we need to keep an open mind with the abilities of other animals and how they communicate.
Source:http://animal.discovery.com/news/afp/20060313/frog.html
posted by Kelly Pollard(7)
posted by PWH @ 9:08 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Good subject for your blog but there are some grammatical errors. Make sure you stick to one tense. For example. "The waterfalls...presented.." I would change presented to the present tense. Also in the next sentence "load" should be loud and "mask" should be "masks". In the following sentence "These frogs then evolved...." I believe you are missing some words. Just check over your blog and it will be perfect.
Very good quotes. Good job.
Posted By: Scotty Fay
This comment has been removed by the author.
I think its an interesting article but some of the grammatical mistakes confuse when reading. The quotes were very helpful in understanding why the frogs don't have any ears and the subject of frogs having ultrasound in order to call their mates is a very interesting subject. Read over it once next time and it will help a lot.
Posted by Carmen B. Arsuaga
It seems that when animals are faced with a sink or swim situation, they usually find a way to over come it. In this case the frog had a problem communicating with each other with a loud waterfall nearby. They figured out a solution by going ultrasonic. This is a rather ingenious solution to their problem. This is very cool indeed.
Posted By: Andrew Thompson (7)
This is an interesting article, i wounder is there any other types of frog can use ultrasound too. This is a good example for animals overcome the environment obstacles.
Posted by: Kyle Chiang (7)
Post a Comment
<< Home