Frog calls

One warm summer’s evening we stopped and spent about an hour enjoying frog calls at night, at Shangwa Pan. Frogs are heard calling more than they are seen. Most species make a variety of sounds and can recognize each other through the specific sounds of a particular species.

During breeding season male frogs get together at a breeding site, and all call together to advertise to the females and attract them to mate. Calls made by males are normally heard during early evening while establishing their call sites. The call is meant to warn other males to move further away.

In most frog species the males clasp both males and females as they will try to mate with any other frog. If the frog seized is another male or a female not ready to mate, it expels air from the lungs in short bursts causing a vibration of its sides. This gives a message that the wrong sexual partner has been grabbed and causes the frog to release the clasped frog.

A scream-like call is made by a frog when grabbed by a predator, hoping to scare or startle the predator into dropping the frog, as well as warning other frogs of the predatory danger.

At dense sites males sitting next to each other often call alternately, thereby sharing time to avoid a calling overlap.

Sitting quietly in the dark and listening to a frog choir is a most wonderful bushveld experience!