Animals all around the world perform seemingly strange behaviors to communicate with one another. One such behavior is the foot-flag dance display of frogs. It’s produced when a frog slowly extends it leg outwards and down towards the ground in an arch like movement. What is especially interesting about this behavior is that it has independently evolved six times in frog species all around the world. Why might this bizarre behavior repeatedly evolve? Perhaps it is because there is a conserved path of least resistance within these frogs that make the evolution of this behavior more likely. To answer this question, however, the behavior needs to be abstracted and quantified. Behavioral evolution is a process, in which the behavior gets codified and embodied in the system of an animal or species. This project here explores how to visualize the foot flag of frogs in 3D abstraction using the concept of trajectoids. Trajectoids are a geometric representation of a 2-dimensional path, whereby the path trajectory information is embodied in the geometry such that it can continuously roll along the imprinted path with only the help of gravitational force. In this way, trajectoids will consistently trace the foot-flag trajectory with each trajectoid being a unique representation for each frog species. Much like the repeated evolution of the frog dance display follows a path of least resistance, these trajectoids follow the path of least resistance in a gravitational field, that is, the foot-flag trajectory.

"I was initially interested in creating a more direct representation of the foot-flag display of frogs but as time went on, it became a goal to make an abstract representation of the behavior. So I was interested in making a 3D representation of the foot-flag behavior and movement, that could capture the awe and curiosity one gets when seeing this behavior in frogs for the first time. My role in the collaboration was providing scientific knowledge regarding foot-flagging frogs."

-Nigel

"The most surprising thing I experienced was the joy in designing a creative piece to convey the science that I am doing. I had such an incredible time working with Jaimie, exploring and devising creative sculptural pieces that could represent the movement found in the foot flag. We decided to do two things. One was to model a 3D path of the foot-flag trajectory in ribbon form. The second was to create a trajectoid object that could perpetually roll along the foot-flag path. I learned how valuable the collaboration of science and art can be. Working in this collaboration allowed me to see my research through a completely different angle and perspective. It has actually changed the way that I think about how I quantify and examine the behavior.”

-Nigel