Nature Is Metal: Milk Frog Edition

the other night, between my two main ponds and the in vegetation around them, i estimate that i saw about 150 adult milk frogs that had descended from the canopy for one of their normal early rainy season explosive breeding events. there were pairs in amplexus on the ground and floating in the water in both ponds and males everywhere calling, and the sound was deafening.

sometimes during these events you will see two or more males climbing on a female, jockeying for position and trying to displace the other males. when this occurs in the water, it's not uncommon to last for hours, making it hard for the female to come up for air and in these instances, she will often drown.

this morning, after the frogs had returned to the trees, in one of the ponds i saw two males still clinging to a dead female that had drowned after trying and failing to keep her head above the water for an extended period. because her dead body was no longer as buoyant, the two males were having a hard time keeping their heads above the water as they both held on defiantly to the corpse.

I didn't want either or both of the males to drown. with a shovel, i gently removed the trio from the water and placed them on the ground next to the pond, thinking the males would lose interest and head for shelter in a tree or plant. after more than five hours, even with hungry ants covering the female's body and crawling on both males, as well, the two males refused to budge.

nikon z8 + nikon 50mm f/2.8 macro + godox V860 iii flash with AK macro diffuser.