Mysterious new frog species found to croak like ‘Star Trek’ special effects

Frog calls sound similar to boatswain whistle and tricorder from Star Trek series, researchers say

Scientists have found seven new species of frogs in Madagascar whose high-pitched calls they say are like the “sound effects from the sci-fi television series Star Trek”.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen say the frogs, found across the rainforests of Madagascar, emit whistling sounds while communicating with others of their species.

While some may liken these frog calls to those of some bird or insect, Star Trek fans may find them to be similar to the “boatswain whistle” and a device called the “tricorder”, scientists say in a study published in the Vertebrate Zoology journal on Tuesday.

“That is why we named the frogs after Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, Burnham, and Pike – seven of the most iconic captains from the sci-fi series,” study co-author Miguel Vences said.

Tree frog genus Boophis is found in the rainforests of Madagascar (Mark D Scherz)

Scientists say the frogs are not easily accessible and it requires “a bit of trekking” to find them.

“We had to undertake major expeditions to remote forest fragments and mountain peaks,” Dr Vences said.

“There’s a real sense of scientific discovery and exploration here, which we think is in the spirit of Star Trek.”

The frogs live near fast streams in the most mountainous regions of Madagascar. Scientists suspect the loud background noise of this terrain could be why the frogs developed such high pitches.

“If the frogs just croaked like our familiar European frogs, they might not be audible over the sound of rushing water from rivers they live near,” Jörn Köhler, another author of the study, said.

“Their high-pitched trills and whistles stand out against all that noise.”

Tourists watching lemurs in Madagascar (Joan de la Malla)

Scientists documented a type of high-pitched sound made by the frogs called “advertisement calls”, which conveys information about the male frog’s suitability as a mate to females. Each of the seven species makes a distinct series of the whistles, allowing researchers to tell them apart.

Genetic analysis confirmed that each of the seven frog types was a different species.

Madagascar tree frog species Boophis ankarafensis (Goncalo M Rosa)

Madagascar, a tropical island about the size of France off the east coast of Africa, is a tropical home to nearly a tenth of all the world’s frog species.

“We have only scratched the surface of what Madagascar’s rainforests have to offer. Every time we go into the forest, we find new species, and just in terms of frogs, there are still several hundred species that we have not yet described,” Andolalao Rakotoarison, another of the study’s authors, said.

The species are accustomed to very specific habitats and that makes them vulnerable to climate change, researchers warn.

They call for conserving Madagascar’s biodiversity to ensure these unique species and their habitats are preserved for the future.