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They might also investigate if cats and other predators home in on these tunes...
That is so neat. Hard to believe that no one has stumbled across this before, what with all those mice in labs.
ah.... the suffering humans are creating...yeah....we are looking more transparent everyday.....like the Chinese killing the innocent people of Tibet right now as we speak. There are bad genes in the human genome and our ignorance is not blessed. Maybe the only decent humans are the Jain ( Eastern Indian people who kill no living creature, no matter how small). We should learn from them.
Terror Bird--it really isn't that surprising. If it is outside the range of human hearing, then you have to be intentionally registering sounds that you can't hear. A mouse being taught to use tokens or how to navigate a puzzle problem isn't courting, and there is no reason to be monitoring them in this sound range.
This has had me thinking since my last post. Terror Bird, your assumption is the very commom myth that science will find whatever is happening, but this is an example of the value-laden nature of science. The questions that we value (consider important enough to ask) will determine what we are likely to find. Accidental discoveries are great, but we usually find things because we invest time and resources into looking for them. It leaves a lot to be missed.
This isn't an insult or a challenge, just an observation of the difference between how we like to think of science and how it really (usually) works.
It has been known for some time that male mice sing love songs. I'm disappointed that this article didn't provide a link to listen to some of the recordings---they're enchanting.
Of course mice sing! Anyone who's seen "Babe" would know that. We have singing mice in our home, though the lute accompaniment is a bit much.
Nikolaus20!! "blue moon....." thanks for the little memory:)
It was hard to find, but I got a slowed-down deer mouse song on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzAn8fyQ418
Fascinating stuff to think about, as I throw out mouse-damaged food items and clean their droppings off the kitchen floor. "Squeek, squeek.....prrr...thwee....squeek....SNAP!
Sound through bird mimicking is fun way to communicate
When I was a little boy I recall "adults" thought animals were dumb automatons driven by a cocktail of chemicals released from various glands and I remember thinking how ridiculous that sounded. Animals talked to each other and had emotions. It was so obvious to any kid.
Over the years I have found more and more that the kids were right with every new discovery. Like when they found that elephants communicated over long distances with sub-sonic sound waves or whales communicated over even larger distances with their calls or birds and dolphins used different sounds to communicate different things... All I could say was, "Duh! Animals talk to each other, think, dream and have emotions." I don't think they are as complex and as advanced as humans but they possess these just as we do.
In some things it takes the innocence of a child to see the truth.
Not "subsonic" but rather sounds below human hearing. <sigh>
No... most people are NOT "familiar with the telltale squeak of a mouse scurrying out of their pantry"...
Well, it's cool trivia and all, but so what?
Please tell me that this will eventually lead to a better mouse trap...
Just when the common has become mundane, someone finds out that there is still mystery and wonder out there. Thanks for this story.
Of course all creatures have songs, emotions of some sort, and feel pain and satisfaction (like a full belly or a warm bed). The Jain do know this and respect all God's creatures. We humans have high intelligence but not so much wisdom.
I'm not sure why this is news...I already know this was proven with rats, it stands to reason that their small cousins might do the same thing.
You can even buy the equipment to hear it yourselves, although I never bothered with my own rats. They make plenty of noise already, what with the squeaking in the middle of the middle of the night when the boys have a disagreement or loud thuds when they've decided to bounce off the walls of their cage in play.
Although my favorite is still the little noise they make with their teeth when they're contentedly sprawled out on my lap while I'm watching a movie and they're enjoying some head rubs.
(By the way, for anyone mentioning traps, I really encourage the humane catch and release ones. They didn't mean to get in your house, but it was just so warm and full of food...)
The creatures around us are more wonderous than we know.
"The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.
-Henry Beston"
i wonder what songs they sang last night when i smashed the hell out of them for getting into my potato chips.
Fascinating article on what is likely a little known fact. Funny thing is I've worked in the pest control field for many years and of all the training, field experience and knowledge I've accumulated both as an Ehrlich Technician and otherwise, this simply is something I've never heard of. I think it shows the importance of research and how the unlikeliest of studies can open doors to new technology.