Single singing male toad seeks same

It’s Saturday night down at the old mill pond, and gaggles of lonely anurans are looking for love. A question vexes researchers: Why the crowd? Each male would seem to have better odds of mating by setting off on his own. But males of Spea multiplicata and Spea bombifrons—spadefoot toad species that interbreed—sit in a flotilla that’s a veritable fraternity row of bachelor lily pads.