Anuran Communication edited by Michael Ryan, Smithsonian Institution,
$50, ISBN 1560989734
鈥淭HESE foul and loathsome animals . . . are abhorrent because of their cold
body, offensive smell, harsh voice [and] squalid habitation, and so the Creator
has not exerted his powers to make many of them.鈥� So said Linnaeus in his
Systema Naturae (1735). He clearly wasn鈥檛 a great fan of amphibians, but
the chances are that you will be after reading this book about how frogs
communicate.
Not all frogs attract their mates by calling. Some have elaborate
foot-flagging displays. But for most, calling is the way it鈥檚 done, and it鈥檚 no
weak peep. Calling frogs constrict the entire chest to force air through their
vocal cords. Huge muscles packed with blood vessels and mitochondria鈥�20
per cent of a male frog鈥檚 total weight鈥攇ive them stamina and ensure the
call is powerful.
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Calling is so demanding that a frog in full cry has a metabolic rate 20 times
its resting level, equivalent to that of a sprinting human. Yet some grape-sized
Romeos can sustain three calls a second for up to seven hours.
Books based on symposia and intended for specialists only can often be
turgid, even narcoleptic. Anuran Communication is a great exception.
Editor Michael Ryan has produced a volume that combines breadth with consistent
clarity, and which could be picked up and enjoyed by anyone with a modicum of
biological knowledge and an active curiosity bump.
The book should please both specialists and beginners. Excellent as an
overview of current research, it is also hard to beat as an introduction to the
fascinating world of frog biology.