During mating, some male poison frogs embrace their partner’s face in a love-potion-laced hug.
The amorous amphibians may create pheromones in glands in their fingers, researchers report July 21 in Molecular Ecology, highlighting an evolving understanding of the complexity of frog mating.
Field biologist Diana Abondano Almeida and her colleagues were studying chemical communication in amphibians and noticed a combination of quirks in male poison frogs. The males of some species have one markedly swollen fingertip on each hand that becomes even more bulbous during the reproductive season. Mating in frogs often includes “amplexus,” which often is where the male grips onto the female from behind, sometimes for hours
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