Inflatable Female Toads Throw Off Unwanted Males
July 9th, 2010 - 7:39 pm ICT by Pen Men At Work
July 9, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): In a bizarre biological find, researchers from Australia have revealed that the female toad can thwart her unwanted suitors by simply inflating their bodies. The female toad, when grasped by its unwanted male counterpart, inflates itself so that the rival males can throw off the unwanted one. The female toads puff up their bodies so much that the persistent male is forced to fall off her back.
This is in fact a very unique and innovative approach undertaken by the female toads. This is also the most novel way of selecting a mate and is absent in any other species in the entire animal kingdom. Usually, the females have no say as to who would ‘father’ her kids but the female toads strongly defy that very ‘sexist’ law and definitely have a say when it comes to mate selection. Author Bas Bruning who also doubles up as an ecologist at the Vrije University in Amsterdam, Netherlands, said that their studies have clearly showed that the female toad can exercise the right to choice of a mate through this method of inflation.
The female toads or the female anurans might just posses way more power for selecting their mate than it was ever thought of; this was reported by the British journal called ‘ Biology Letters’. The female cane toads or the Bufo marinus are way more selective in this case than the males. The females usually approach and select the male toad that has the best call of them all.
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Tags: amsterdam netherlands, animal kingdom, anurans, bas, biology, bruning, bufo marinus, cane toads, ecologist, females, inflation, male counterpart, men at work, pen men, rival males, selecting a mate, suitors, toad, toads, vrije university