Rockin R's

03/12/2026

A recent gift of $1.5 million from Friends of Children’s Hospital will help create an environment that better supports the mental health and wellbeing of children from across Mississippi.

02/07/2026

Who knew getting older was this fun?

12/11/2025

11/02/2025

10/30/2025

The older I get, the freer I am.

08/24/2025

Scientists have discovered that female European common frogs (Rana temporaria) fake their own deaths to avoid aggressive males during mating season, a behavior captured for the first time. In the intense, short breeding period, where males greatly outnumber females, competition can lead to dangerous mating pileups that threaten females with drowning.
To escape, females use tactics like twisting away or emitting distress calls, but the most striking is tonic immobility—a reflex where they go rigid and motionless, mimicking death.

This study marks the first evidence of frogs using death-feigning to avoid mating, a strategy previously observed mainly in predator encounters.
The findings reveal the extreme evolutionary adaptations female frogs employ to survive intense reproductive pressures.

More:
Rascoe, Ayesha. “Research Finds Female Frogs Play Dead to Avoid Mating with Males.” NPR, 5 Nov. 2023.