On a high note: Rare frog communicates by ultrasonic sound

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

PARIS (AFP) — A rare frog uses ultrasonic sound to communicate with its brethren, a clever tool that helps it overcome the noise of the waterfalls it inhabits, researchers in the US and China have found.

The concave-eared torrent frog (Amolops tormotus) joins bats, dolphins and whales and a small number of rodents in the elite club of creatures that are able to communicate by ultrasound.

A team led by Albert Feng of the University of Illinois found that male frogs of this species make high-pitched melodic bird-like calls that sometimes exceeded their recorder's maximum range of 128 kilohertz -- more than six times the limit of human hearing.

The frogs inhabit Huangshan Hot Springs, a popular mountainous area west of Shanghai, where there are loud waterfalls...