[Ecology • 2017] A Possible Mutualistic Interaction Between Vertebrates: Frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) Use Water Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) As A Foraging Place

Mutualisms shape biodiversity by influencing the ecology and the evolution of populations and communities.  For example, among many others, birds commonly forage in association with large mammals, including livestock, but so far no similar relationship has been described for amphibians.  In this note we describe the association between the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) and the Anatolian Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in Turkey and provide possible explanations for the existence of direct relations between these representatives of two vertebrate classes.  We hope that our note stimulates future research on this subject. 

Keywords: Bubalus bubalis, interaction, Pelophylax ridibundus. 

Fig.  1.  Photographs of the interaction between frogs and buffaloes; sitting buffaloes with many frogs on the fur. 

Fig.  1.  Photographs of the interaction between frogs and buffaloes; foraging frogs and flies on buffalo fur.