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How does the pygmy grasshopper use tonic immobility to avoid being swallowed by frogs?
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Avoidance behaviour
Cat fleeing by upward climbing.
When the pygmy grasshopper (Criotettix japonicus) enters a state of tonic immobility, it adopts a stiff posture that exposes several spines on its body. This physical configuration makes it difficult for predators that swallow their prey whole, such as the East Asian frog, to successfully ingest the grasshopper.1