An interesting article.
Jim
Male mouse sings a song of love
Male mice serenade potential mates with ultrasonic love songs, a study by U=
S scientists has revealed.
The research adds mice to the exclusive club of mammals that can sing, whic=
h has until now comprised only human beings, bats and cetaceans.
A University of Washington, St Louis, team studied ultrasonic squeaks emitt=
ed by mice when they smell a female and found that they form complex songs.=
They have published details in the scientific journal PLoS Biology.
Scientists have known for some time that mice emit sounds at a frequency ou=
tside the range of human hearing. But it was always possible that these cou=
ld have been random vocalisations.
Washington researchers Tim Holy and Zhongsheng Guo now demonstrate that thi=
s is not the case.
Accidental discovery
They discovered the songs by accident, while investigating how male mice re=
sponded to sex pheromones released in the urine of female mice.
When the males encountered cotton swabs dunked in female mouse urine, they =
broke into song.
Dr Holy and his team processed the sound recordings to make them audible to=
humans, lowering the pitch without interfering with the tempo.
Instead of making the ultrasonic chirps randomly, the mice used several dif=
ferent types of syllables arranged in regular, repeated time signatures res=
embling birdsong.
Their vocalisations meet the characteristics of song, Dr Holy and Dr Guo cl=
aim.
Singing plays a prominent role in the courtship rituals of amphibians, bird=
s and insects.
But it is known only in a handful of mammals, including bats, humans, cetac=
eans - including whales and porpoises.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4395664.stm
Published: 2005/11/01 11:11:43 GMT
=A9 BBC MMV
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