17th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
kick boxers of western ghtas

kottigehara dancing frogs which are endemic to western ghats lift their hind legs like a sumo wrestlers to show dominance and protect their territory from other males. Sometimes it will pounce on other males and kick them. Here i was trying to capture that moment when one of the male was lifting it's right leg and trying to kick the other one. These are so intelligent, they know how to avoid being kicked. The other male is avoiding by lowering the head and also at the same time trying to kick back. All this happened in milliseconds and I could not change my shutter speed and this behavior is not known or recorded in any research/study of dancing frogs. That's why one of the male is blurry. This action is something not many have witnessed or recorded or captured.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2019
Date Uploaded: 10.2019
Photo Location: agumbe, India
Copyright: © ashok manjanath