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Snake Attack on Frog Eggs Provokes Premature Hatching

snake attacking frog eggs

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This video clip shows a cat-eyed snake attacking a clutch of red-eyed tree frogs and the embryos hatching prematurely to escape predation. The audio track contains the vibrations for this video sequence, transformed into sound.

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Credit: Michael Caldwell and Karen Warkentin, Boston University

 

Graph of vibrations caused by a snake attack on a clutch of frog eggs

A recording made by an accelerometer inserted in an egg mass to record vibrations. This particular attack was made by a parrot snake, Leptophis ahaetulla.

Credit: Karen Warkentin, Boston University


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