Female Frogs Feign Death To Avoid Unwanted Male Attention, Says Study

Female frogs exhibit a behaviour called tonic immobility, also known as feigning death, in order to get rid of males, according to a new study.

Tonic immobility or feigning death is a technique in which female frogs stiffly extend their arms and legs away from their bodies and remain immobile until the male frog releases them. It was earlier assumed female frogs do not know how to defend themselves from males.

Source : Natural History Museum in Berlin

Female frogs often reject males and exhibit severally mate avoidance behaviours, contrary to previous assumptions. Female frogs exhibit a behaviour called tonic immobility, also known as feigning death, in order to get rid of males, according to a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. It was earlier assumed female frogs do not know how to defend themselves from males trying to mate with them, and die due to male coercion.  However, as part of the new study, Carolin