Male frogs "sing" to attract females, much like a male bird will sing to attract a mate. Each frog species has its own call, and that's one way a female frog can figure out who's who when they are trying to find a mate who is a member of their species.
Listen to the calls of the Plains Leopard Frog (our local Kansas River species), the Southern Leopard Frog (a.k.a "Froggie" from Peggy's Tadepole Tales), and the widely distributed Northern Leopard Frog, in the videos below. Do they sound different? Be careful, there may be more than one species calling at the same time, so pay attention and try to pick out what call is being made by the star of the show.
Northern Leopard Frog
Here's a challenge for you: Can you sing like a frog?
- How would you describe each of the songs?
- Are there words or sounds you can make yourself that sound like the three different frog calls?
- It may be hard to imitate the frogs yourself, so see if you have anything around the house or your classroom that you can use to help you imitate their songs; things like balloons, or creaky doors or other sound effects.
- Try to pay attention to how many times they repeat different sounds, and how long the sounds last. Different species of frogs may use the same sound but at different speeds or in different combinations.
- If you have a video or a digital tape recorder you may want to make a recording of your Frog Song so that you can add it to your Virtual Froggie.