A study carried out on juvenile Wallace’s flying frogs at Vienna’s Schoenbrunn Zoo in Austria has unveiled intriguing insights. The study suggests that the coloration of these young frogs serves as camouflage, making them resemble animal droppings.
Wallace’s flying frog, also known as the gliding frog, is characterized by its bright red coloration adorned with small white dots. These frogs are native to Southeast Asia and bear the name of biologist Alfred R. Wallace, who collected the first known specimen.
According to the recent study cited by AFP, these frogs exhibit an “unusual color pattern” that aids them in deceiving predators and avoiding potential attacks. The study explains that their coloration makes them appear as “animal droppings.”
The Vienna zoo, in a statement released on Thursday, shared details about the research conducted by a team of researchers.
Susanne Stueckler, a researcher from the University of Vienna, remarked, “The young frogs probably count on the fact that they will be seen but considered something inedible.” The research involved several other contributors and their findings were published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
To test their hypothesis, the research team conducted experiments to recreate scenarios in which these frogs would share an environment with potential predators. The hypothesis they aimed to verify was whether these frogs were utilizing their coloration to evade predators.
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