Ever Heard the Term "Misdirected Amplexus"?

Misdirected amplexus is the scientific term that describes male frogs' odd behavior of trying to mate with things other than frog-kind. And there is now evidence that suggests that this behavior began as far back as 220 million years ago.

Mating frogs may have been occasionally getting it wrong for hundreds of millions of years. We know that males today will sometimes select an inappropriate partner during the breeding season – a frog from a different species, a turtle, a fish or even an inanimate object.
“For a male facing huge competition with rivals to reproduce, it would be advantageous for males to arbitrarily be attracted to – and thus clasp – any female-looking object in order to increase mating probabilities,” says François Brischoux at La Rochelle University in France.

More on this from Veterinary Daily. - via Weird Universe

(Image credit: Wild Spirit/Unsplash)


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