Tiny Gardiner's Frogs Hear With Their Mouths

Posted on September 3, 2013

Scientists have discovered that tiny Gardiner's frogs can hear using their mouth cavity and tissue to transmit sound to their inner ears. The frogs from the Seychelles islands are one of the smallest frog species in the world.

To establish whether these frogs actually use sound to communicate with each other the scientists set up loudspeakers in the rainforest and broadcasted pre-recorded frog songs. The broadcast caused males present in the rainforest to answer, proving that the frog are indeed able to hear the sound from the loudspeakers.

The researchers say the frog's mouth acts as a resonating cavity for the frequencies of the frogs' song. It amplifies the amplitude of the sound in the mouth. The body tissue between the buccal cavity and the inner ear is adapted to transport these sound waves to the inner ear. X-rays were used to determine the frogs were using their mouths and surrounding tissue to transmit sound to their inner ears.

The research team was led by Renaud Boistel from CNRS and University of Poitiers. Boistel said in the announcement, "These small animals, Gardiner's frogs, have been living isolated in the rainforest of the Seychelles for 47 to 65 million years, since these islands split away from the main continent. If they can hear, their auditory system must be a survivor of life forms on the ancient supercontinent Gondwana."

Take a look:

The research was published in PNAS on September 2, 2013: DOI/10.1073/pnas.1302218110.

ANIMALS
FROGS