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Mating Calls Bare More Than Desire

Courtship 'song' of desert creatures conveys complex info

By Victoria Floethe, Newser User

Posted Jan 18, 2009 4:52 AM CST

(Newser) – Like human songs, animal calls are said to spur courtship, but what exactly does each wail and snort signify? To find out, a pair of Tel Aviv zoologists studied the mating songs of furry little rock hyraxes in the Judean desert. The researchers found that male hyrax courtship "songs" not only express desire, but give potential mates a rundown of all vital stats like weight, health and social status, reports the Economist.

The male hyrax begins by wailing to reveal his weight, then "chucks" to convey body length and stress level. He wraps it up by snorting, signaling his hormone level and pelt quality. Whether this reveals why humans sing is unclear, but it would make sense—after all, a man's anatomy does determine the size of his voice, say researchers. That's "something to think about when next you are tempted to sing in the bath," the Economist notes.

[Images (2)]

[Videos (1)]

A rock hyrax readies his next tune. (Flickr)

Rock hyraxes reveal much about themselves in their mating call, including weight, social status and health. (Flickr)

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Even though we may describe some of our family members as being as big as elephants, the hyrax is actually the elephants closest living relative. It is believed the giant hyracoid family evolved in different ways millions of years ago. Some evolved smaller and became the hyrax family, while others started the elephant family. Hyraxes, like elephants have four toes on each front foot and three on each back foot as well as other similar traits. Today they are broken down into 4 main species. The Southern and Western... (briczar22)

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Mating Calls Bare More Than Desire