Anurans use auditory cues, including male calls, for orientation and movement in the environment. Whereas previous research has focused on the phonotactic response of breeding adults to calls, the response of recently metamorphosed anurans has not been tested. We assessed the phonotaxis of 144 juvenile Hyla chrysoscelis (Cope’s Gray Treefrogs) of two size classes to choices between silence, conspecific, or heterospecific Hyla versicolor (Eastern Gray Treefrog) cues in an experimental setting using an artificial arena. We found no significant response to either call type for either size class. Our results do not support the hypothesis that treefrogs orient toward or away from male calls shortly after metamorphosis.
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