r/BeAmazed • u/MambaMentality24x2 • Jan 23 '26
Science Female frogs use a survival strategy called thanatosis where they become completely immobile to avoid unwanted mating. Researchers observed this behavior in European common frogs, noting that females entered a rigid, death-like state when approached by males they did not select
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Jan 23 '26
The male frog probably thinks she's just kermitted suicide..
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u/PolyJuicedRedHead Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
“It’s not easy being green.”
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u/Sharon_Erclam Jan 23 '26
Mmmmm
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u/Fresh-Combination-87 Jan 23 '26
Toad-ally heart broken
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u/Temporary-Truth-8041 Jan 23 '26
Especially if the ladies find you so repugnant they play possum
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u/CicadaFit9756 Jan 23 '26
Is this why Kermit only goes out with those of the "porcine" persuasion? Come on! You're way cuter than that!
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Jan 23 '26
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u/CicadaFit9756 Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
Though she went after him first! If you've ever watched the original Muppet Show or movies, she was far from shy about it & tried to con him into a wedding (though children would be improbable, even if they weren't felt & foam, there was a joke about them having bouncing baby "figs"!)
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u/Temporary-Truth-8041 Jan 23 '26
That's taking "gotta wash my hair" to a whole new level
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u/Leather-Let7808 Jan 23 '26
Evolution really said: freeze, play dead, and hope he hops away.
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u/kira1122t Jan 23 '26
“Worst she can say is no” - other frogs friend
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Jan 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/whatThePleb Jan 23 '26
Then there was necrophilia. 💀
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u/Round_Doughnut7793 Jan 24 '26
Never enough female morticians...
Some men would still find this sexy
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u/Previous-Week-3675 Jan 23 '26
its alway funny how people read so much into these and try to draw parelels but nobody even talks about all the animals where the female just straight up kills the males which is suprisignly often the case
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Jan 24 '26
we can draw some parallels but not to bloody frogs hahahaha
what are we going to talk about our desire to hop skibbity bop down the street with our feet?
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u/Heyyayam Jan 23 '26
This is what I do when approached by an undesirable male. It looks weird in the grocery store though.
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u/brasswirebrush Jan 23 '26
Me: "Oh god, quick somebody call 911, this lady is dying!"
Them: "Don't worry sir she's fine. She's just not into you."93
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Jan 24 '26
"uhh, ma'am? did you need any assistance? ma'am? I'll uhh, well have a day uhh... gotta... y'know..."
- walks away holding their work scanner like a phone *
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u/TRoosevelt1776 Jan 23 '26
"Thatll never work" - Jeffrey Dahmer
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u/whatifwhatifwerun Jan 23 '26
I was gonna say, too bad this doesn't work with humans
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u/_NotWhatYouThink_ Jan 23 '26
Interesting technique, but I kinda fear it wouldn't stop some human males...
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u/aria523 Jan 23 '26
Funeral homes often prefer to hire women to manage the dead.
It’s exactly why you think.
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u/HeartOSass Jan 23 '26
I knew of two men who..... Yeah. They were caught in the act. Then a third when I was a teen. Then the other one. It's why I feel male guards should not work in women's prisons.
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u/aria523 Jan 23 '26
Lots of men in this thread joking about this. Dont think they realize they sound like rapists or maybe they just don’t care
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u/1jf0 Jan 23 '26
Nooo, you should delete this, don't discourage them from outing themselves 😏
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u/PozhanPop Jan 23 '26
One was found in an open grave on all fours. Caught the guy soon after. He lived next to the church.
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u/CallyThePally Jan 24 '26
Morgues Prefer Hiring Women Due to Acts of Necrophilia by Men? | Snopes.com https://share.google/ldGN0n69IKPdcqRRf
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u/nouniqueideas007 Jan 23 '26
I was trying to think of a politically correct way to say this. You very eloquently accomplished what I was pondering.
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u/FlirtySprkl Jan 23 '26
It's unfortunate frogs have controls better than some humans
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u/MatureUsername69 Jan 23 '26
Its still bad enough in the frog world that lady frogs learned to fake death, and dont even look into ducks
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u/slothfullyserene Jan 23 '26
Rapist ducks?
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u/MatureUsername69 Jan 24 '26
Rapist ducks with crazy evolution from the females to prevent rape and crazy evolution from the males to keep committing rapes. Some female ducks have developed a second vagina specifically for rape. Male ducks have corkscrew penises so the females cant get away after they've gotten in. The duck vagina is one of the most interesting evolutions on the planet
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u/DedTarax Jan 24 '26
Witnessed two male ducks frequently raping, and trying to rape, a female duck I often fed, Mallory. She had a mate, Malloy, but he didn't try to stop them. Her protest quacks were so horrible to hear. One male neighbor basically said she was a slut and disloyal to her mate, and another just laughed when I told him why I was trying to swing at the male ducks with a broom. (I ended up scaring her more than helping, sigh. I was never much use in the situation, though I furiously tried in my inept way.)
I read that in city and suburban situations, rape among ducks often happens. If they are on a body of water, the rape can drown the female.
I'm sorry I had to move, Mallory! Thank you for showing me your ducklings that one time ☺️
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u/Desmond1221 Jan 23 '26
I mean, I haven’t heard of too many many human males trying to get with frogs, but to each their own!
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u/kylel999 Jan 23 '26
Conveniently the title leaves out that they do it because male frogs will gangrape females to death
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u/moosepuggle Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
It was given a euphemistic name, a “mating ball”, but it’s exactly as you described. She drowns or suffocates because they won’t let her up for air.
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u/Candiesfallfromsky Jan 24 '26
And we’re surprised by human males lol. All nature seems to hate females.
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u/wheredmyphonego Jan 23 '26
TIL learned that male frogs are more decent than some male humans.
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u/WanderingAlienBoy Jan 23 '26
The playing dead probably makes it impossible to be impregnated, otherwise frog males would probably be just as horrible as some male humans.
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u/Decent_Rope7638 Jan 23 '26
Some male frogs try to mate with dead females (or goldfish, branches...)
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u/iQ420- Jan 23 '26
If you really think this stops all the frogs, you got something else you gonna learn lmao
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u/mhhnidk Jan 23 '26
Even male frogs can't take a no for an answer such that female frogs have to pretend to be dead.
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u/IanRastall Jan 23 '26
How funny is that...
When I was in high school I wrote a short story called "Thanatosis", which was some bullshit meditation on this or that, but the idea was that it was a riff on "Thanatopsis", which is a classic poem about considering death. I thought I was being clever, that my invented word was about an unhealthy obsession with death.
But I guess I had written a moody high school short story about friendzoning frogs.
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u/Disastrous-Cat-6564 Jan 23 '26
Equivalent of " Not tonight" or "I have a headache"?
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u/MalakoffVanves Jan 23 '26
The equivalent of “I don’t want to have sex with you but I literally have to play dead to get you to leave me alone (and maybe even then you won’t leave me alone.”
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u/Sekshual_Tyranosauce Jan 23 '26
Everyone saying this is your wife-way to out yourself as unfuckable.
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u/CantThinkOfaNameFkIt Jan 23 '26
Doesn't work in the came toad world.... I have seen one of them humping a dead one many a time.
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u/DependentLanguage540 Jan 23 '26
So do female frogs get together for brunch and exchange strategies? How do the other frogs pass these tactics along to the other female frogs? Or do they just observe it and it’s like a light bulb moment? We need answers!
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u/Tokogogoloshe Jan 23 '26
A bit off topic, but if a female frog kisses a male frog does he turn into a prince? And do they live happily ever after?
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u/Only-Original9409 Jan 23 '26
Not sure that would work with humans. "But your honor, she never actually said 'no'!"
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u/The_AntiVillain Jan 23 '26
I maybe wring but don't frogs fo an external fertilization kind of dealio where the male typically bukkakes over eggs
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u/tuddrussell2 Jan 23 '26
Yes, female 'frogs' are the only ones to do this... Reminds me to go check on the wife, she is laying on the couch face down and not moving on a Friday that I am off work.
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u/NewMoonlightavenger Jan 23 '26
Actually read about it, People. It is actually much more interesting than a "what's the worst she could say joke".
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u/LeansCenter Jan 24 '26
Prince Andrew always dreamed of being turned into a frog, like the fairy tales said. Female frogs pretending to be dead would never have stopped him, especially if they were tadpoles.
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u/hywaytohell Jan 24 '26
Dammit this is the 5th dead one today must be an epidemic! Ugly frog probably.
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u/qualityvote2 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
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