Village Naturalist: Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog
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I heard a bullfrog calling. It seemed kind of late in the year for bullfrog breeding but he was calling away. Male bullfrogs sit around a water source and call hoping a female will be attracted to the call. Recent studies show that the bullfrogs are acting somewhat like prairie chickens. Male prairie chickens will congregate at a spot called a lek. The males will dance around and the females will sit in the grass and check them out. The female will then enter the lek and go up to the male she has selected and the two of them will leave together. Later the male returns and starts to dance again. Somehow the dancing lets the females know which male is the most “fit” and he gets chosen a lot!