Biologists croak to their animals

LONDON (Reuters) - Biologists have taken a leaf out of the literary Doctor Doolittle's book and started talking to their animals.


"We have been croaking to our tree frogs for about two weeks now. They respond and it makes it easier to find them," Robin Mulford, a biologist at Bournemouth Oceanarium, told Reuters on Friday.


"We croak and the males croak back. But the females stay quiet," he said by telephone.


The chatty, colour-changing male frogs respond to any loud noise, trying to outdo the volume and attract a mate.


But while the Bournemouth biologists may manage to fool the male tree frogs, the females are proving more canny.


"None of us has attracted a female with our croaking so far," Mulford said