Ilian Velikov wrote:Mario Schweiger wrote:yes, that's it.
Are you talking about the paper? There was not really an answer to the question in it. They suggest males
might turn blue to avoid attempting amplexus with each other but don't they have the call for that?
A very nice, honest, readable, clearly written paper - but unfortunately without the answer to the question
that troubles us all, not just Ilian...
... but don't they have the call for that?
The call is meant to attract the females, not to repel other males. After all, in a breeding frenzy with hundreds
or even thousands of closely packed males, all of them calling (to the females), a striking colour would be much
more conspicuous and effective as a "same-sex repellent" than a call, hopelessly lost within a huge chorus of
identical ones. In my experience, a chorus like that can be heard from half a kilometre away - useful to attract
the females, from afar, but really useless for any recognition of an individual caller at close quarters...
Not that I really endorse the idea of a striking colour being the "same-sex repellent" as the solution, but I also
have no better idea to come up with, just like anyone else... Or maybe someone has?