Too much mate choice overwhelms frogs

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

19 August 2026 Too much mate choice overwhelms frogs Female treefrogs select less carefully when hearing a chorus of males. Save article View saved research

Credit: Jessie C. Tanner

The dating advice of there are ‘plenty more fish in the sea’ is often not helpful — especially, it seems, for frogs. Claire Hemingway at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and her colleagues studied the mating choices of female Cope’s gray treefrogs (Dryophytes chrysoscelis, also known as Hyla chrysoscelis), and found that they struggle to pick the best mates when presented with too much choice.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02554-w

References Hemingway, C. T. et al. iScience https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117086 (2026). Download references

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