Prey exploits the auditory illusions of eavesdropping predators

10.4231/TYHF-XJ20

Claire T Hemingway , Henry D Legett , Ximena E Bernal

03/04/2021

We show that male tree frogs reduce their attractiveness to eavesdropping enemies (bats and midges) by overlapping their calls at near-perfect synchrony with the calls of neighboring conspecifics taking advantage of an auditory illusion.

animal communication biological sciences communication network eavesdroppers illusion sensory exploitation synchrony