# Unfussy female darts, NAT GEO



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Unfussy Female Poison Frogs Just Go For Closest Male – Phenomena: Not Exactly Rocket Science


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## Darts15 (Jun 5, 2011)

Haha interesting! Wouldn't have thought of that. Brings new meaning to 'random mating'...


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

Wow. Interesting. 

Who knew they were so easy...


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## Baltimore Bryan (Sep 6, 2006)

Interesting article. One thing that stood out was their reasoning as to why females choose the closest male: "If a female rejects a male, she might not be able to find another partner, much less a better one. If this happens, she’ll lose an entire clutch. On her egg-laying days, she has to find a mate within a certain time or she’ll just lay unfertilised eggs that never develop."

Does this actually happen where female pumilio have certain days to lay eggs, and they must lay on that day regardless of whether a male is present or not? If this were true, I don't understand why some females can be gravid and holding eggs for days at a time before courting with a male and laying. Thoughts?
Bryan


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## TheCoop (Oct 24, 2012)

What a great article.. Thanks for sharing Julio..


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## SDRiding (Jul 31, 2012)

Very interesting! I have read other articles that stated the females prefer their own phenotype over others. Since this was conducted in a monomorphic population, it seems to actually reinforce the phenotype sexual selection a bit. 

Combining the two, I'm inferring this:
The female will mate with the closest male regardless of size, call, or shape. But if the phenotype variable is introduced they tend to select their own phenotype. And if size/shape/call aren't important, the phenotype variable in the sexual selection carries even more weight since the others are ruled out. 

Still so much to learn!


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## motydesign (Feb 27, 2011)

why do i have doubt with the conclusion of this study? idk, i just have questions with some of the statements in there.


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## randommind (Sep 14, 2010)

Baltimore Bryan said:


> Does this actually happen where female pumilio have certain days to lay eggs, and they must lay on that day regardless of whether a male is present or not? If this were true, I don't understand why some females can be gravid and holding eggs for days at a time before courting with a male and laying. Thoughts?
> Bryan


I can say that while tracking down a male, I housed a female alone and she regularly dropped clutches throughout her viv. Within days of introducing her to a calling male...developing eggs.


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## Baltimore Bryan (Sep 6, 2006)

randommind said:


> I can say that while tracking down a male, I housed a female alone and she regularly dropped clutches throughout her viv. Within days of introducing her to a calling male...developing eggs.


Interesting, I've heard some other people say they have found clutches from a single female, but I've kept females alone for years and they would not lay any eggs. After introducing a male, I would find a clutch within days.
Just curious, what kind of frog was your female that regularly laid infertile clutches?
I would still tend to assume that female pumilio would have to have some environmental cues that would induce them to produce and lay eggs, like plenty of food, rains, good conditions, calling males, etc. No? So I'm still not quite understanding the article's argument that the females have set days on which they will lay eggs, regardless of whether there is an available male or not. 
Bryan


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Single females will lay eggs if they hear a calling male in the same room, I have experienced this with diff morphs of pumilios


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## randommind (Sep 14, 2010)

Baltimore Bryan said:


> Just curious, what kind of frog was your female that regularly laid infertile clutches?


WC 'guarumo' from 08' imports. At the time she was laying clutches there were no other calling pumilio around. Several ranitomeya and auratus, but no calling pumilio.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Tell that to my frigid Loma Partida female. In a tank with a constantly calling male for 2+ years and NOTHING.

s


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

Lol if only humans were like that...

Haha anyways i'm still waiting for my banded leuc to go...


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