Dart Den

I probably butchered the spelling of both those words, sorry, on to the post.
I have a 4.2 group of aratus, very easy with their patterning to tell which is which. 3 of the males, i have heard and seen singing, the fourth is "clover" (he has a 4 leaf clover pattern on his back). I have never heard clover sing, he is the most reclusive of the 6, and rarely ventures out. But, clover gets all the action. I have watched while the other males sing, and follow the female around, but clover is the one they are always after, hes the one getting the back rubs and actually seems to be trying to get away from the girls. Ive seen them courting a number of times, and ive caught him fertilizing eggs a number of times. I just thought it was odd that hes the shiest one, the smallest of the males, never heard him call, rarely see him out except for these moments, and yet, from what ive seen, they always single him out.
I've read posts where people say frogs are not monogomous (and i believe them), but i was wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this?
Derek

DKOOISTRA Wrote:I probably butchered the spelling of both those words, sorry, on to the post.
I have a 4.2 group of aratus, very easy with their patterning to tell which is which. 3 of the males, i have heard and seen singing, the fourth is "clover" (he has a 4 leaf clover pattern on his back). I have never heard clover sing, he is the most reclusive of the 6, and rarely ventures out. But, clover gets all the action. I have watched while the other males sing, and follow the female around, but clover is the one they are always after, hes the one getting the back rubs and actually seems to be trying to get away from the girls. Ive seen them courting a number of times, and ive caught him fertilizing eggs a number of times. I just thought it was odd that hes the shiest one, the smallest of the males, never heard him call, rarely see him out except for these moments, and yet, from what ive seen, they always single him out.
I've read posts where people say frogs are not monogomous (and i believe them), but i was wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this?
Derek

No worries Derek....you only missed an "a" in Monogamous and a "u" in auratus.

VERY interesting observation - I love hearing about stuff like this.

pumilio select mates based on colour and pattern and stay with those - we know that for sure.

imitators have also been documented as acting "monogamous".

While I'm a little reluctant to assign a behavioural trait commonly associated with mammals, to dart frogs.....I do keep an open mind about stuff like this.

thanks for posting and keep us informed.