By Grace Jones | posted on February 22, 2018
EMU POINT resident Emily Elsasser came home from dinner on Friday night to a surprising encounter and may have inadvertently captured the first photographic record of a motorbike frog (litoria moorei) eating another.
With more than 40 years’ experience in studying zoology and the biology of frogs, Dr Dale Roberts from the University of Western Australia was surprised to see the behaviour of two motorbike frogs in a photo taken by Ms Elsasser on Friday.
“I’ve seen plenty of large frogs consuming smaller frogs, and frogs of similar size before,” he said.
“But this is the first photographic evidence I’ve seen of a litoria moorei, or motorbike frog, consuming another.”
Dr Roberts said he had heard previously from people that they had seen motorbike frogs eating each other, but had no actual proof.
“To my knowledge there aren’t any scientific papers in circulation that dissect the diet of these frogs,” he said.
Ms Elsasser had to grab her glasses to make sure she knew what she was looking at when she arrived home.
“We live near a big wetland area, so we’re used to sharing our backyard with frogs in the evening,” she said.
“After getting that little bit of rain the last few evenings, all kinds of frogs have been coming out to sit on the lawn or on our window sills.
“They love to sit there and eat the bugs attracted by our lights.”
Friday night was a first for Ms Elsasser though, after she spotted a small motorbike frog seemingly being devoured by a larger one.
“I didn’t have my glasses on, so all I saw was this strange two-headed frog on the window sill,” she said.
After racing back inside, Ms Elsasser was surprised to see the cannibalistic action.
“I had to be quick to take the photo before they noticed me,” she said.
“I went back a bit later and they were gone.
“I’m glad that I don’t know what happened to the poor thing.”
Photo: Emily Elsasser
