Whenever a frog jumps, they need to make sure that they have a good landing. However, some frogs simply can’t land on their feet.
One example is pumpkin toadlets. When pumpkin toadlets leap, they fly through the air like they were thrown by a person. They flip, cartwheel, and can even back-flip in mid-air.
However, after their acrobatics show, they plummet and crash to the ground, usually belly-flopping.
“I’ve looked at a lot of frogs and these are the weirdest things I’ve ever seen,” zoologist Richard Essner said.
Essner and his team decided to do some observations, and they found out that pumpkin toadlets are clumsy jumpers because they lack things inside them that sense changes while they spin. After watching a video of these toadlets leap and crash, Essner decided to go to Brazil to investigate them in the wild. He found that the scientific name for these frogs is Brachycephalus. Besides that, these frogs are extremely small, and can be as large as your thumbnail. Because of their size, scientists try to listen to their high-pitched sounds, then grab a few leaves, to hopefully find some toadlets.
After putting the toadlets in a lab, scientists put in some cameras to monitor their movements. The crashes and belly flops are likely due to the toadlets unable to find out their body position.
The tube in the inner ear allows animals and humans to find their body position. However, because pumpkin toadlet’s body tubes are the smallest in the entire world, the fluids inside them aren’t able to move, which means the toadlets won’t know what they are doing.
This is why these frogs are always doing acrobatics in the air, but unable to prepare for a good landing.
Sources: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658689212695x116332403836026940/Why%20these%20jumping%20toadlets%20get%20confused%20mid-flight%20_%20Science%20News%20Explores.pdf
One example is pumpkin toadlets. When pumpkin toadlets leap, they fly through the air like they were thrown by a person. They flip, cartwheel, and can even back-flip in mid-air.
However, after their acrobatics show, they plummet and crash to the ground, usually belly-flopping.
“I’ve looked at a lot of frogs and these are the weirdest things I’ve ever seen,” zoologist Richard Essner said.
Essner and his team decided to do some observations, and they found out that pumpkin toadlets are clumsy jumpers because they lack things inside them that sense changes while they spin. After watching a video of these toadlets leap and crash, Essner decided to go to Brazil to investigate them in the wild. He found that the scientific name for these frogs is Brachycephalus. Besides that, these frogs are extremely small, and can be as large as your thumbnail. Because of their size, scientists try to listen to their high-pitched sounds, then grab a few leaves, to hopefully find some toadlets.
After putting the toadlets in a lab, scientists put in some cameras to monitor their movements. The crashes and belly flops are likely due to the toadlets unable to find out their body position.
The tube in the inner ear allows animals and humans to find their body position. However, because pumpkin toadlet’s body tubes are the smallest in the entire world, the fluids inside them aren’t able to move, which means the toadlets won’t know what they are doing.
This is why these frogs are always doing acrobatics in the air, but unable to prepare for a good landing.
Sources: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658689212695x116332403836026940/Why%20these%20jumping%20toadlets%20get%20confused%20mid-flight%20_%20Science%20News%20Explores.pdf
