Frog Mating Habits Are Just Strange….. Really Strange!

The main aim of any species is to reproduce. If they don’t do that then they die out. This is as true for frogs as it is for any other animal on earth. Frogs are amphibians and there are thousands of different species. They inhabit many different countries but like to live in moist habitats such as swamps and ponds. Frogs can be a range of sizes and colors, but they all have a characteristic hunched body with large bulging eyes and webbed toes. They all have elongated rear legs which allow them to leap up to 20 times their body length. Frog mating habits are also a little strange!

How Do Frogs Reproduce?

The basics of frog reproduction are quite simple. Fertilization takes place outside of their bodies. The female spawns – this means that she releases her eggs into the water. But the eggs need to be fertilized and for that, she needs a male. It is the female that approaches the male frog. He selects a suitable breeding site and attracts females usually with a special mating call. He chooses the female that he prefers best and then the process of mating can start. The reproductive openings in both male and female frogs are cold cloacae. The aim of mating is for the males and females to align their cloacae so that sperm can meet eggs and fertilization is likely to take place.

To achieve this, the male and female embrace in a grip that is called amplexus. This is derived from the Latin word for embrace. Usually (but not always) this involves the male climbing onto the back of the female and grasping her from behind. He wraps his arms around her waist. The male may use a soft swelling on the inner finger of his front feet to cling on to the female. This is called a nuptial pad.

Frog Mating Positions

Frogs are very inventive when it comes to amplexus positions. They have seven distinct positions. Each species has its favorite one. One of the most common is called inguinal amplexus. This is where the male grabs the female from the back and climbs on top of her grasping her waist with his forearms. The axillary amplexus is another position. Here, the male grabs the female using her forelimbs.

Mating is more of a challenge for some species of frogs than others. For example, common rain frogs (Breviceps adspersus) are faced with a challenge because their body shapes are so round and they have such short arms. Males are much smaller than females and their arms are too short to grasp her. The males have overcome this by secreting a glue that makes them stick to the female. This ingenious position is called glued amplexus!

How Long Do Frogs Mate For?

For some frog species, time is of the essence but others can take a more leisurely approach. The longest known amplexus is found in Andean toads which lasts for months! The female has to carry the male around on her back the whole time. In other species, it lasts for just seconds.

The Asian tree frog needs to get the deed done quickly because they spawn in puddles formed during heavy rain. These puddles will soon dry out and the tadpoles need to have enough time to develop before that happens. To make sure that mating is successful, multiple frogs may mate at the same time. The situation is so frenzied that males sometimes grab onto other frog species and mate with them by mistake.

Frogs Mating With Weird Things!

The strangest mating behavior in frogs is observed when they get it wrong! Frogs have even been seen trying to mate with boots and several other objects. The scientific name for this is misdirected amplexus. Scientists are so interested in this phenomenon that they have even set up a global database of misdirected amplexus in certain types of amphibians. They have not yet found out exactly what promotes this unusual behavior it seems to be quite widespread. It may be connected with the fact that there are more female frogs than males.

Therefore, the males grab hold of anything that looks remotely like a female frog hoping that he’s going to get lucky. Looking at data from between 1920 and 2020 the researchers found 378 recorded incidents. In 282 of these, the frogs were trying to mate with the wrong species and in 46 of them, they were trying to mate with a dead frog! In 50 cases the frog was trying to mate with an inanimate object or with a non-amphibian species. Other studies have concluded that this behavior has been seen in frogs for millions of years so it looks like they are not going to stop anytime soon.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Anne Coatesy/Shutterstock.com