FROGGY STYLE
NEWS COPY - WITH VIDEO - by Katherine Clementine
A never-before-seen sex position has been discovered by scientists - thanks to the bizarre habits of one breed of frog.
A study of the aroused amphibians could provide inspiration for a new page in the Kama Sutra - with experts coining the new position as the 'dorsal straddle'.
Male Bombay night frogs, found in India, are able to fertilise a female's eggs without making contact at the same time - by leaving their sperm trickling down the female's back.
The strange sexual position, where the male doesn't embrace the female, sees him straddle over her back with his hands holding onto nearby objects instead - such as leafs, branches or tree trunks.
The male then moves away, allowing the released sperm to trickle down the female's back so eggs can be fertilised when the female lays her eggs in the future.
Study leader Professor Sathyabhama Das Biju, of Delhi University, said: “This is a remarkable frog with an unprecedented reproductive behavior, which is unique for a number of reasons.
"This discovery is fundamental for understanding the evolutionary ecology and behaviour in anuran amphibians."
Six mating positions, called amplexus modes, are known among the almost 7,000
species of frogs and toads found worldwide.
But, the 'Bombay night' frogs (Nyctibatrachus humayuni) have broken the mould creating the seventh known position in amphibians.
The strangeness of these frisky frogs does not end there - as it's the female of the species who send out a mating call to the males - with only 25 species worldwide following suit.
Fights between competing males are a common sight in the Bombay night frogs - with a forceful fight breaking out when one male intrudes on the territory of another.
Indian night frogs are an ancient group of frogs, which diversified around 70–80 million years ago.
Among these, Bombay night frogs are mostly stream-dwelling frogs and can be seen calling from the ground and overhanging vegetation in large numbers, after sunset during breeding season.
The research was conducted over 40 nights in the field between 2010 and 2012, during monsoon season in the Western Ghats, and was published in the journal Peer J.
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