Scientists barked like dogs at toads to make them pee

Scientists barked like dogs at toads to make them pee in order to save the species from extinction, according to an Associated Press report by Dánica Coto:

1st in vitro Puerto Rico crested toad gives scientists hope

…Extracting semen from toads that measure up to 4.5 inches (11 centimeters) long is normally easy: they release it in their urine, and they usually pee whenever they’re picked up, Barber [Diane Barber, pictured here, ectotherms curator at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas] said. But for those toads that did not pee, another tactic was used.

“It’s kind of weird, but if you hold them in your hand and look at them and bark at them like a dog, they will pee,” she said.

(Thanks to Eris Caffee for bringing this to our attention, in vivid wording.)