Ultrasonic frogs show hyperacute phonotaxis to female courtship calls

Jun-Xian Shen (), Albert S. Feng, Zhi-Min Xu, Zu-Lin Yu, Victoria S. Arch, Xin-Jian Yu and Peter M. Narins
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Jun-Xian Shen: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Albert S. Feng: University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
Zhi-Min Xu: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zu-Lin Yu: State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Victoria S. Arch: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology,
Xin-Jian Yu: Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peter M. Narins: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology,

Nature, 2008, vol. 453, issue 7197, 914-916

Abstract: Ultrasonic communication: Female frogs on a high note The Chinese torrent frog, Odorrana tormota, a nocturnal tree-dweller in the noisy environment of rushing streams, has developed ultrasonic communication. New work reveals just how sophisticated the system has become. In most frog species, vocal advertisement is the domain of males. But in O. tormota the females emit ultrasonic signals when they are ovulating, and the males can locate their signals with an acuity of one or two degrees. That rivals the performance of vertebrates with the highest localization acuity — owls, dolphins, elephants and humans. The localization accuracy of O. tormota is all the more remarkable in light their small head size, and suggests an additional selection advantage of high frequency hearing beyond the ability to avoid masking by ambient noise.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06719

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