Rare frog semaphore caught on camera

A BBC film crew has captured footage of a rare frog waving, wrestling and courting for the first time.

The Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) communicates with other frogs by semaphore in the form of gentle hand waves.



It has evolved the mechanism to signal to rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams.

Shortly after filming for the BBC One series Life In Cold Blood, with Sir David Attenborough, the frogs had to be rescued from the wild, due to the threat of chytrid fungus.



Hilary Jeffkins, senior producer of Life In Cold Blood, said the semaphoring behaviour of the Panamanian golden frog was very unusual.

"Normally, frogs would croak to get their message across but it's too noisy," she said. "An extra mechanism they've evolved is to wave to each other."