Researcher Makes First Ever, Recordings of Animals , Assumed to Be Mute.
NPR reports that a recent study
found that many animal species long
believed to be mute do, in fact, vocalize.
The paper's lead author, Gabriel Jorgewich Cohen,
says that his project began after he read
about a turtle in the Amazon making sounds. .
The evolutionary biologist, who was working on his PhD at The University of Zurich, went on to record fifty species
of turtles, as well as caecilians, tuataras and lungfish.
The evolutionary biologist, who was working on his PhD at The University of Zurich, went on to record fifty species
of turtles, as well as caecilians, tuataras and lungfish.
The evolutionary biologist, who was working on his PhD at The University of Zurich, went on to record fifty species
of turtles, as well as caecilians, tuataras and lungfish.
Actually every single animal
I recorded made sounds, John Wiens, Professor of ecology and evolutionary
biology at the University of Arizona, via NPR.
According to Cohen, the research
points to a common ancestor that
lived some 407 million years ago.
Neil Kelley, a paleontologist at Vanderbilt University, points out the difficulty of studying and
tracking animal sounds over millions of years. .
It's very hard to trace that in the fossil
record, because sounds obviously
don't fossilize and most vocal
equipment is soft tissue-based, John Wiens, Professor of ecology and evolutionary
biology at the University of Arizona, via NPR.
John Wiens, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
at the University of Arizona, suggests that Cohen's work
is an important step toward furthering our understanding.
If you don't record these sounds and report
them, then there's no reason why anybody
would study acoustic communication
in those things. You don't even know
that they're making sounds, John Wiens, Professor of ecology and evolutionary
biology at the University of Arizona, via NPR.
According to Wiens, the next step it to determine
how these animals use these sounds to
communicate with one another.