FIT TO BURST
Apr 13, 2022
4 minutes
WORDS: JULES HOWARD
by
JULES HOWARD
BUILT-IN BAGPIPES
CALAKMUL BIOSPHERE RESERVE, MEXICO
This painted tree frog produces a piercing screech that differs slightly in pitch to closely related species. To maintain the call for as long as possible, it squeezes the same breath of air back and forth across the larynx, creating a trilling sound. This is just one of thousands of different kinds of frog calls, each unique to its own given species. “Vocal sacs differ enormously across frogs,” says herpetologist Dr Mark Scherz of the Natural History Museum of Denmark. “Some species have single sacs, some have paired sacs, some sacs even expand substantially down the body or expand hugely in front of the head.”
Even female frogs have taken to
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