25/07/2025
Full disclosure, I haven't fact checked this one yet but thought someone might find it amusing enough to check it for me. Happy Friday night!
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1295186822219247&set=a.1049801296757802
Female frogs are faking their own deaths to escape aggressive males
Researchers observing the breeding European common frog (Rana temporaria) found that females sometimes enter a rigid, motionless state known as tonic immobility when overwhelmed by mating attempts.
Legs outstretched, body still – it looks like they’ve dropped dead.
Why go to such extremes?
In these species, breeding happens in a short, intense window with far more males than females. That imbalance leads to competition – and in some cases, dangerous dogpiles of males clinging to a single female. It can be so extreme that females risk drowning during mating.
To survive, females have developed a set of behaviors to avoid unwanted mating: twisting, distress calls, and in rarer cases, tonic immobility. It’s not a conscious decision – more like a last-resort reflex to escape.
Scientists say this is the first time death-feigning has been documented in frogs as a sexual avoidance strategy. And given the intense selection pressures in other frog species, similar behaviors may be more common than we thought.
Learn more:
Rascoe, Ayesha. “Research Finds Female Frogs Play Dead to Avoid Mating with Males.” NPR, 5 Nov. 2023,
