Using 3-D printed #RoboToads, we compared female reactions to bright-yellow vs dull-yellow males in triangular arenas. We found no evidence for female preference for brighter-yellow males.
Key paper: https://bit.ly/3GQCwrt
🧵5/6 #AnimBehav2023
Do females prefer brighter yellow males? With 3D-printed #RoboToads we found no evidence that females prefer bright yellow.
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Paper: "Sexual selection in a neotropical toad: Do female toads choose brighter males in a species with rapid colour change?" https://bit.ly/3w4EqiU
Side-by-side comparisons of our latest #RoboToads and actual Yellow Toads. We're ready for the rainy season to arrive in Costa Rica, when our PhD student @KatrinaMSwitzer will begin an exciting new experiment.
Robotoad update: Our 2019 robotoads are complete! Thanks @SaviMade for creating these amazingly lifelike 3D-printed animal models.
The #robotoads will hop to Costa Rica next week with Katy, as she begins a new experiment on Neotropical Yellow Toad biology with Stéphanie and I.
#RoboToads update: Male and female skin painted and spectrophotometrically matched to the skin of Incilius luetkenii. Now @MisterSavi and @KatrinaMSwitzer will bring them to life by painting eyes and cranial ridges.
#RoboToads update: Now Katy and Lincoln are masking the females to paint the males. #HereComesTheYellowPaint
#RoboToads update: Female skin painted (and spectrophotometry confirms a match with the colour of live female toads). Today @KatrinaMSwitzer and @MisterSavi will start painting male skin.
They might look like Chocolate Frogs to a #HarryPotter fan, but these are our newest 3D-printed #RoboToads with only their base layer of paint. #YellowPaintComingSoon
Excited for our 2019 field season @KatrinaMSwitzer @Steph_Doucet @SaviMade!
What did male Yellow Toads think of our #RoboToads? These photos from @KatrinaMSwitzer suggest that male Incilius luetkenii found @MisterSavi's 3D prints very lifelike.
What did female Yellow Toads think of our #RoboToads during Katy Switzer's experiment? Many hours of video analysis lie ahead, but these photos from Toad Day look promising! (Photos: @KatrinaMSwitzer and @KiirstiO)
Katy's team has built arenas, created platforms for the #RoboToads, and transported everything into the forest @ACGuanacaste. Now we're ready for the rainy season to arrive.
Here’s a link to the @cbcradio interview with @DMennill about research being conducted by @KatrinaMSwitzer in @ACGuanacaste supervised by @steph_doucet and @DMennill and using the super cool #robotoads made by @MisterSavi
cbc.ca/player/play/12…
Our #RoboToads have arrived in Costa Rica, hopping through the leaf litter of the Tropical Dry Forests of @ACGuanacaste. Now we wait for the rainy season, when Yellow Toads will emerge and @KatrinaMSwitzer and her team can study the toads' responses to the robots.
Our army of #RoboToads is now hopping from @UWindsor to @ACGuanacaste for our collaborative study of colour signalling in Costa Rican Yellow Toads.
@KatrinaMSwitzer @MisterSavi @Steph_Doucet @ScienceUWindsor
A productive Reading Week in the Mennill Lab has included preparing a new microphone array system, and gathering parts for an army of #RoboToads for the upcoming field season. #WindsorScience
