This is Scientific Americans 60 Second Science. I'm Jason Goldman. Got a minute?

Ask anyone what sound a frog makes and they'll probably say rib it.

But there's only one frog that makes that sound, the Pacific chorus frog.

It may have become the go-to frog call because it just happens to live near sound artists in

Hollywood. Herpetologists have long known that frog calls are more diverse than just ribbit, but their communications are more diverse than just calls. They also signal each other by sight. Say you're a male of a species called the Brazilian torrent frog,

and you live alongside a fast-flowing stream in the Amazon jungle.

You happily chirp away, advertising your availability to whatever female torrent frogs

are around.

But when another male comes too close, your chirps give way to peeps and squeals.

So you wave your red and brown arm in front of your cream-colored face.

The ensuing color contrast turns your body into a warning light.

The intruder gets the hint and hops away to bother someone else.

Brazilian zoologist Fabio Desa

witnessed Brazilian torrent frogs using 18 different visual displays,

five of which had never been seen before in other frogs. He and his colleagues

published their findings in the journal Ploss 1. The frog semaphore system

probably developed because streams are noisy places.

Instead of shouting over the sound of rushing water, these frogs communicate by jumping, head bobbing, arm waving, or even wagging their toes.

The set of signals is the most sophisticated. arm waving or even wagging their toes.

The set of signals is the most sophisticated ever documented for a frog.

But Desaa thinks that other frogs could have similarly complex

repertoire if only researchers would take the time to look.

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