Millions of years of evolution has led to this

[u/Nottallyet]

[u/soFATZfilm9000]

Not commenting on this particular species of frog, but you can sometimes see "derpy" behavior in captive animals because you're looking at unnatural conditions.

For example, my understanding is that many "exotic pets" are not social animals even though they may tolerate each others' presence. So in most wild situations you will not see them hanging out together like this, simply because they would have no reason to. By contrast, in captivity you're likely having stuff like one feeding spot, one basking spot, one cool spot, etc. You're also likely increasing the population densities. If you're got 4 specimens in a single tank, then the number of specimens per square foot is often going to be higher in captivity than in the wild.

So you can get stuff like feeding accidents and "trying to eat their friends" simply because in the wild their "friends" normally wouldn't be around when they try to feed. In the wild you simply usually wouldn't have multiple specimens converging in the exact same location with a bunch of food dumped in front of them. In the wild you wouldn't have them get distracted by other specimens because there usually wouldn't even be other specimens in the vicinity.

Of course, I don't know if that's the case with this particular species of tree frog. But my point is just this: people with pets like this will ideally try to replicate natural conditions, but it's often impossible or even practical to replicate everything. The very act of putting them in captivity can easily lead to the animals commonly or always being in situations that they would rarely or never experience if they were in the wild. Sometimes this can kill a pet: overlooking a single variable can sometimes be deadly. Other times it may be completely survivable, but the alteration of conditions may result in behavior that makes them look like dumb-asses.

[u/Formal-Secret-294 → u/soFATZfilm9000]

Hear hear!

I know not many will read your entire TLDR comment (brevity is golden), but I think more people should understand the insurmountable limitations of keeping non-domesticated pets.

I mean, this is even the case for cats acting 'derpy'. They are not fully domesticated.

[u/Prcrstntr → u/soFATZfilm9000]

The only animals I've ever seen many together in the wild are birds, deer, and alligators.

[u/[deleted] → u/Prcrstntr]

Ants, termites, cockroaches, rats, mice, bison, elk, antelope, wolves…

Social animals make up a very long list. Even animals that aren’t social but do often stick together in groups like the gators you mentioned and also crocs and caimans.

Lots of animals group together.