Researchers at the University of Minnesota reveal from a finding those male frogs are favored more by the female mates who can multitask. Examining gray tree frogs the study found the female frogs favored such male frogs more whose calls demonstrated they have the capacity of doing two or more difficult-to-achieve actions simultaneously.

It is a biological mechanism that male gray tree frogs generate common trilled mating calls made up of string of pulses, usually 20 to 40 pulses per call. In one minute the calls produce rate is 5 to 15. Here, the male frogs need to deal trade off between their each call duration and the call rate. Those frogs whose calls are long and also frequent are favored by the female frogs, says the finding.

A postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota and lead author Jessica Ward said, “It’s kind of like singing and dancing at the same time.”

It is assumed the female frogs consider such male frogs with higher multitasking hypothesis are of higher quality, says Ward. The researchers recorded 1,000 calls to study the behavior of male and female frogs.

The study was conducted by a professor in the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences’ Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Mark Bee and the study was published in the latest issue of Animal Behavior journal.