Finally, the fringes of frog and toad sex have been mapped. Brazilian researchers compiled a global database of 378 well-documented cases in the past 100 years where reproduction was not by the book. In the vast majority of cases (282) it concerned non-species who in amplexus – the pair grab – were held. Fifty times a mating attempt was made with an object (boot, coconut, tennis ball, turd from a yak) or a non-amphibian (usually a fish). Outright necrophilia was present in 46 cases.
hot guys
The first scientist to discover toad necrophilia is the Austrian ethologist Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1928-2018). In his dissertation Ein Beitrag zur Paarungsbiologie der Erdkröte from 1950, he reports that female toads often drown under the weight of several horny males, with dramatic results: “Ich fand Klumpen, both dens bis zu 12 Männchen um ein totes Weibchen belgten.”
However, he does not confide in the paper the term ‘necrophilia’. That also applies to Daniel Wilhoft in his classic titled An unusual act of amplexus in Bufo marinus. In it he dryly reports on his 1959 observation in northern Australia of a toadstool (Rhinella marina) that mated for eight hours in the middle of a road with a dead and half-rotten female fellow.
This publication in the North Queensland Naturalist remained unknown to the general public until the 1988 documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History was broadcast. It atmospherically portrays the struggle of the Australian people with the harmful, invasive toadstool, including a careful reconstruction of the 1959 case of necrophilia – the first and only time this behavior in animals has been filmed. The documentary achieved cult status, partly due to its necrophilic toad.
Pair Grip
Although toads made massive advances in large parts of Australia, it was not until November 16, 2008 that a second case of necrophilia was noted. At the time, the Dutch biologist Bas Bruning was conducting laboratory research into the power of the pairing grip of male toads. On one of his forays in search of dead females in The Northern Territory, he found a male on top of a dead female, in amplexus, on a highway at night. So far nothing new, but Bruning did tell me something special: „The toads did not have the normal mating position. No doubt the female had been hit by a car and landed dead on her back, and the male had grabbed her tightly by the stomach as you can see in the photo.” The photo remains rare. I just checked the most recent frog kamasutra. The last new position was added in 2016, but the missionary position is still missing.
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