The Language of Love

If you liked this article, then LIKE this article here!

The Language of Love: Breeding Behavior in Reptiles and Amphibians

By Erin Lane

Introduction

For most of the country, it’s the middle of winter. Cold storms are moving through, the thermostat is turned up on the furnace, and going out in anything less than a parka is out of the question. Your herps, however, are likely blissfully unaware—either because they are basking in their own temperature controlled enclosure, or because they are sleeping it out until the Spring. This doesn’t mean though that they aren’t getting prepared for breeding season. As your temps start to warm up here in the next month, your pets will be undergoing physiological changes that will prepare them for breeding season.

Whether you have snakes or frogs, monitors or turtles, most of their wild counterparts have a well defined period of time when the conditions are just right for procreating. In the tropics, this may be the start of the rainy season. For creatures living in the temperate zones (which is most of the U.S.), this means the beginning of warmer days and milder weather.

This is also the time that most of our pet reptiles and amphibians begin to gear up as well. The means of communicating the readiness to breed is different from species to species, but there are some common types of communication when advertising love. As we get ready for springtime here at the Reptile Times, we will be discussing the many ways in which our ectothermic (aka ‘cold blooded’) animals attract and choose mates.

Part I: Auditory Announcements

Although we initially rely pretty heavily on appearance when attracting or finding a mate, many species would find all of this primping and grooming a waste of time. For most anurans (frogs and toads), the voice is often the most important tool to attract a mate. But why? What is the benefit of vocal communication, and how can that help to find a suitable partner?

Well, think about the areas in the world that have the highest densities of anurans. These are wet places with dense vegetation, such as rain forests. Even if you have good eyesight, it won’t help you to find other small, cryptically colored frogs hiding out under leaves and in small pools of water. With so much thick foliage, it won’t do much good to see well.

Picky listeners

Sound, on the other hand, carries far, even when visual barriers are present. Having a strong voice means that you can be heard over a greater distance, thereby increasing the number of listeners (and potential mates). As for most animals, it is the males that do the majority of calling. Females tend to be choosy since they typically have a very limited number of reproductive opportunities in a given season. Making eggs is taxing, and, depending on the species, they may only have one opportunity to have their eggs fertilized. In that case, finding a mate becomes a choice that could be the difference between their genes getting successfully passed on to the next generation, or not at all. If the chosen male doesn’t pass on good strong genes to your offspring, they may not live long enough to have offspring of their own.

Males, on the other hand, typically have a very different take. Where females are all about quality, males are all about quantity. Unlike females that produce large, energetically costly eggs, males make millions of small, energy efficient sperm. In most cases, the number of females they can breed with is dependant primarily on how many they can convince. So when it comes to attracting a mate, males are usually the ones with the tougher job.

Size matters

You have likely heard the saying “appearances can be deceiving,” but it’s hard in the animal world to disguise a voice. Vocalizations, or calls, are usually closely tied with the size of the animal making them. For example, a small frog can’t make a deep call, just like a snare drum will never sound as big and deep as a base drum (think of an American bull frog versus a chorus frog). It’s all about the size of the instrument, and it’s hard, if not impossible, to alter a call enough to trick a discerning ear.

But why is being bigger important? It isn’t always, but being bigger usually means that the male is older, has more access to food, or both. If a male lived long enough to become big and can make a nice booming call, it likely has good genes that have allowed it to find food and escape predators.

Standing out in the crowd

Often times, males stay put and call while the females seek out the one they wish to breed with. In some species, the males form a lek, which is essentially a gathering place where they can show off for females. The females come to the lekking spot, and can suss out which male would be best to breed with. In some cases, the mere act of being able to participate in the lek is the only qualification a male needs to attract a mate. Males that live long enough to make it there every season are usually those that are higher quality, and therefore suitable for a choosy female. In other species, females will find vocalizing males from a distance, led on by the sound of their call. Only males that have strong, attractive calls will be sought after, meaning that males with less attractive ones will be left singing to themselves.

An important point to make here is that every species will have its own particular call structure and/or frequency. Ideally, females will only be attracted to the call of their own species. If they weren’t, it would be a waste of their time, and they wouldn’t be likely to reproduce. They are tuned in, so to speak, to the vocalizations of their own kind, and discern between calls that are within certain acoustic parameters. Some of them within those parameters just happen to be more or less attractive.

This is an important element in vocal communication because of possible interference from other species. In your mind, go to that lush rain forest with all of those frogs. Think of how many species there are, and how that might sound. Pretty confusing, for an animal that is relying on sound to find a mate. Animals need to be able to ‘filter out’ the sounds of other species, and focus in on those of their own. Not an easy task for us, perhaps, but one that comes naturally to even the most inconspicuous little frog.

Curtain call

As the country begins to thaw out in the next few months, we will start to see our reptiles and amphibians perk up, and get into breeding mode. This is the time of year that is often most rewarding to serious herp breeders and casual hobbyists alike. Your pets begin to wake up, eat more, and, often times, start looking for a mate. The way they do so depends on the species, and it can make for truly interesting behavior.

Although we rely heavily on sight when finding a potential mate, many animals use other senses to discern a good partner. For frogs and toads, it’s all about the voice. A call that sounds out over the rest is sometimes the most enticing attraction for a female, making it a male’s most important asset. However, sound is not the only way that animals communicate and find mates. Next month we will be discussing how some species use chemical cues to find and attract each other. In the mean time, keep an ear out for local frogs and toads as they get ready to sing their hearts out in search of springtime partners.