An outing to Barunei Hills

On the 14th of March, 2020, our team went out for a casual field trip to the nearby hills of Barunei, Jatni, just next to our institute. Little did we know we would encounter a novel behavioral phenomenon in anurans. In a temporary pool of water inside a rocky cave, on top of the stunted Barunei hill, we observed three species of anurans living together. We found one species, i.e., Polypedates (Rhacophoridae), breeding in the pool of water. This species lay their eggs in the form of froth/foam nests deposited in water. To our surprise, we observed one of the other con-generics, i.e., Euphlyctis (Dicroglossidae), predating upon these froth/foam nests. It was one of the most curious and exciting behavior we had observed in anurans to date.

If you are interested in reading more, here is the link to the publication: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6291.12.14.17041-17044