These young coloured frogs may camouflage themselves as poo, finds study

A study conducted on juveline Wallace's flying frogs at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo in Austria has revealed some interesting findings. It suggests that the colour of these young creatures is such that helps them to camouflage themselves as poop (animal droppings).

Wallace's flying frog is also known as the gliding frog. They are bright red in colour and have small white dots on them. These frogs are native toSoutheast Asia region and are reportedly named after biologist Alfred R. Wallace, who collected the first known specimen.

As per this new study quoted by AFP, these frogs display an "unusual colour pattern". This helps them to trick their predators and escape any potential attack by them. The study said that with the help of their colour they appear "as animal droppings".

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Also Read |Space Storms leaving weird impact on birds, claim scientists

The zoo, in a statement on Thursday (Oct 12), revealed the study conducted by the team of researchers.

University of Vienna researcher Susanne Stueckler reportedly said, "The young frogs probably count on the fact that they will be seen but considered something inedible."

Along with her, there were several others who contributed to the research. The findings were published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

How was the hypothesis tested?

During the research, it was essential for the team to verify their hypothesis with an experiment staging a scenario where these frogs are put in an environment alongside their potential predators.

The hypothesis was that these frogs were trying to escape predators.

Also Read |Glass shards from ancient New Zealand volcanic eruption found 3,000 miles away

To test this, the researchers manufactured wax frog models with different colours. These models were subsequently put in the zoo's rainforest house.

As per the study, the house "contains a diverse community of avian predators that are well known to use colour vision to detect frogs as prey."

Study findings

The study foundthat the predator attack rate was much higher for red than for green frog models.

However, the attack rate dropped by half when these were red models with white spots, a model equating the appearance of Wallace's flying frog.

"We show that the unusual colour pattern of juveniles likely functions as a masquerade of animal droppings," the researchers said adding," (It may) function as anti-predator strategy... so that predators misidentified them as inedible objects."

The researchers said that this is a first-of-its-kind experiment."To our knowledge, this is the first experimental exploration of a vertebrate masquerading as animal droppings," they said.

It is worth noting that as these frogs age, their spots vanish. It goes away after one year, "when individuals mature into adults and develop their iconic emerald green colour," reported AFP citing the study.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.