Male poison frogs of Allobates femoralis were found as very caring dads. However, when they take other territories, they are clutch cannibals.
Mail Online reported a very ironic behavior or a frog species called the male poison frog or Allobates Femoralis. Commonly, the male poison frogs are known to be very gentle and caring father for all its clutches inside its territories.
However, when these male poison frogs were able to conquer somebody's territory, it shows the horrific attitude towards others' clutches. According to Science News Line, these frogs would eventually shift its attitude and lose its child-friendly behavior as the new ruler of the territories they have stolen.
Worst of all, the poison male frogs would turn to cannibal and eat all of the other clutches from their conquered territories. The condition is called "Infanticide," a not uncommon in the animal kingdom.
Aside from reducing the risk of investing parental care towards the offspring of others, infanticide has also another purpose for mating when it comes to other animals. Other animals including some species of birds and insects tried to decrease the reproductive success of their rivals and increase the chances of themselves for mating in the future. For instance, lions do the same style of eating other's cubs after gaining territory to reduce the reproductive success of their rivals.
With this technique of the male poison frogs, they make sure that all future clutches contain only exclusive from their own offspring. More so, they may find clutches to be very nutritious and an incredible source of energy.
Head researcher Eva Ringler said in their study, " We have seen in male poison frogs that even a simple trigger is sufficient enough to switch from parental care to destructive actions and vice versa." Ringler headed her team on the study of the male poison frogs' behaviors and cannibalism.
