Sex in The Shrubs: How do Cane Toads Get it on?

ZOOL 567, Fall 2021

CC BY 4.0

Dupont, Bernard
Silvestre, Fauna
Stuart, J. N.
Kowalczyk, Darius
Jojo
Pixabay

Ahmad, Hyeqa

This series of 3 TikToks goes over the cane toad mating position known as amplexus, how it works, and why it came about. The aspects of communication that facilitate this behaviour, as well as the competitive costs associated with it, are also discussed.

The Sex Life of Cane Toads, part 1

The Sex Life of Cane Toads, part 2

The Sex Life of Cane Toads, part 3

[Articles used in TikToks]

Part 1

Carvajal-Castro, J. D., López-Aguirre, Y., Ospina-L, A. M., Santos, J. C., Rojas, B., & Vargas-Salinas, F. (2020). Much more than a clasp: Evolutionary patterns of amplexus diversity in anurans. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 129(3), 652-663. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa009

Part 2

Bowcock, H., Brown, G. P., & Shine, R. (2008). Sexual communication in cane toads, Chaunus marinus: What cues influence the duration of amplexus? Animal Behaviour, 74(4), 1571-1579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.10.011

Clarke, G. S., Shine, R., & Phillips, B. L. (2019). Whispers on the wind: Male cane toads modify mate searching and amplexus tactics based on calls from other males. Animal Behaviour, 153, 131-136. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.05.008

Part 3

Bowcock, H., Brown, G. P., & Shine, R. (2009). Beastly bondage: The costs of amplexus in cane toads (Bufo marinus). Copeia, 2009(1), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.1643/CE-08-036

[Articles not included]

Duellman, W. E., & Trueb, L. (1994). Courtship and mating. Biology of amphibians (pp. 68-72). John Hopkins University Press.

Clark, D. L., & Peters, S. E. (2006). Isometric contractile properties of sexually dimorphic forelimb muscles in the marine toad Bufo marinus Linnaeus 1758: Functional analysis and implications for amplexus. Journal of Experimental Biology, 209(17), 3448-3456. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/10.1242/jeb.02396

Bowcock, H., Brown, G. P., & Shine, R. (2013). Sexual selection in cane toads Rhinella marina: A male’s body size affects his success and his tactics. Current Zoology, 59(6), 747-753. https://doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/59.6.747

Gray, H. M., & MacKenzie, T. R. (2016). Tactics used by cane toads, Rhinella marina (Linnaeus 1758) (Anura: Bufonidae), to disrupt amplectant pairs and to avoid persistent satellite males. Herpetology Notes, 9, 233-235.

Najar, T., & Ferrante, L. (2020). Unusual necrophilic amplexus in Rhinella marina (Linnaeus, 1758). Herpetology Notes, 13, 1025-1026.

12/01/2021

Reproductive Behaviour

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