Faux Frogs
Research models of calling male frogs, 2005—2018
Barrett Klein with Joey Stein, Paul Clements, Ryan Taylor (US)
Science collaborators Ryan Taylor and Michael Ryan needed realistic frogs to address otherwise hard to address questions about multimodal signaling (using more than one sensory mode) and mate selection. Barrett Klein, a behaviorist who had created models of animals, including frogs, for the American Museum of Natural History, joined their team in Panama after constructing ‘faux frogs’ (a.k.a. ‘robofrogs’) with Joey Stein of Moey Inc. in Brooklyn, New York. The whole idea behind producing these artificial frogs is to fool real females... and they do!
BIO
‘Entomo-artist’ Barrett Klein fashions ways of creating and communicating science and art, primarily with insects at centre stage. He studied entomology at Cornell University and the University of Arizona, and ecology, evolution and behavior at the University of Texas, though this academic sequence was split by years spent producing natural history exhibits for museums. He worked at Chase Studio Inc. in southwest Missouri, then at the American Museum of Natural History, roaming its half-lit halls by night and creating insects and giant viruses and working in both education and exhibition by day. Today, he celebrates insects through research in biology and cultural entomology. He is an associate professor of animal behavior and entomology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL). He joined UWL in 2012, investigating sleep in colonies of insects to try to understand what functions sleep might serve within societies. Robofrog work, with friends Ryan Taylor and Joey Stein, has been a side venture for the past decade.