An international team of researchers led by NYU Abu Dhabi Postdoctoral Associate Sandra Goutte was studying the acoustic communications of these miniature frogs. When they discovered that Brachycephalus ephippium could not hear its own mating calls, they searched for alternative visual signals the frogs could use to communicate instead. Unexpectedly, when they shone an ultra-violet (UV) lamp on the frogs, their backs and heads glowed intensely.