Female frogs may eat male after mating call in act of ‘sexual cannibalism,’ new theory suggests

It’s frog-eat-frog in the amphibian dating game.

An ecologist has captured the moment a female green and golden bell frog attempted to eat a male suitor.  

Dr. John Gould, from the University of Newcastle in Australia, observed the female holding onto his leg with a firm bite.

During the encounter, which Gould captured on video, a high-pitched scream is audible from the male as he struggles to escape her grasp, and being pulled deeper into a depression on the side of a pond during the breeding season. 

The situation unfolded on Kooragang Island, north of Sydney, while Gould was studying one of the last remaining strongholds for the threatened frog.

Amphibian cannibalism is not uncommon, with many incidences of tadpoles feeding on each other and adults feeding on juveniles, but this incident is the first video record between adults of this species.

Gould has also documented adult green and golden bell frog females consuming other frog species. He captured scenes of female green and golden bell frogs preying on adult spotted marsh frogs.

The University of Newcastle said: “The circumstances of the attempted cannibalism — with an adult female frog targeting an adult male suitor – has prompted Dr Gould to explore a new theory that female frogs may have a choice in exploiting potential male suitors for breeding or food, and that the male’s call may determine his fate.”

Gould’s observations, ‘Meal or mate: Exploring the evidence of sexual cannibalism among amphibians’, are published in the Journal of Ecology and Evolution.