llourenco92's Favorites

Peculiar situation - 3 male Epidalea calamita were fighting to, apparently, copulate with this Salamandra salamandra.

As it didn't seem like a worthwhile effort for any of them, I dediced to intervene, and also because it seemed potentially life threatening for the Salamandra salamandra.

I managed to remove two of the frogs, but the last one was clinging on too tightly, and I was afraid to harm it or the salamander, so I left them as seen in the first two pictures.

It's the first time I've seen something like this, so I would like some opinions regarding this.
If it was a situation of missdirected sexual effort, I think separating them was ok, again because it seemed life threatening for the salamander. But if this was an agonistic interaction then I think messing with it was wrong of me.

• First male: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109460785
• Second male: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109460784
• Third male: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109460783