Concave-eared torrent frog facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Concave-eared torrent frog |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Odorrana
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| Species: |
tormota
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| Synonyms | |
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Amolops tormotus (Wu, 1977) |
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The concave-eared torrent frog (Odorrana tormota) is a special type of frog. It lives in China, specifically in the Huangshan Mountains in Anhui and in Jiande and Anji counties in northern Zhejiang. These frogs prefer to live near fast-flowing streams and the areas around them. They also lay their eggs in these streams. Frogs in this group are often called torrent frogs because they live in fast-moving water.
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Amazing Hearing: Ultrasonic Communication
The concave-eared torrent frog is very unique! It's the first frog, and the first animal other than mammals, known to both make and hear ultrasonic sounds. These are sounds with a very high pitch, too high for humans to hear.
Why Do They Use Ultrasound?
These frogs live next to noisy, fast-moving water. This water creates a lot of low-pitched background noise. Imagine trying to talk to your friends in a very loud place! Using high-pitched ultrasonic calls helps these frogs talk to each other. Their special calls cut through the noise of the water.
How Their Ears Work
Concave-eared torrent frogs have very thin eardrums. These eardrums are set deep inside their ears. This design makes the tiny bones that connect the eardrum to the sound-processing part of the ear shorter and lighter.
Most frogs have thick eardrums close to the skin's surface. They can usually only hear sounds below 12 kilohertz (kHz). But concave-eared torrent frogs have been heard chirping at an amazing 128 kHz! This shows how incredibly sensitive their hearing is.
See also
- Hole-in-the-head frog (Huia cavitympanum)
