If I asked you to name a singing animal, what would you opt for?
Probably some sort of bird – a nightingale perhaps, or a canary.
But did you know that there are other animals who also woo their mates with a complex song?
Yes, mice sing, and not just in animated movies.
But very much like in those movies, their singing is extremely high-pitched.
We already think of mice as quite squeaky animals – but in fact, they emit two types
of sounds, and the one that we can hear is actually on the lower end of their vocal range.
This is the so-called 'noisy squeak'.
The second type is the 'mouse song' – a complex set of vocalisations in the ultrasonic range.
Or, in laymen’s terms: a very fine tune that is too high-pitched for us to hear.
We might not be able to hear the mouse song, but we have the ability to record it and artificially
This not only tells us that the mousy serenade sounds like a cross between bird chirping
and someone rubbing a mirror with a piece of cloth – we can also look at the syllables
of the songs, analyse them and try to make sense of what the mice are trying to communicate.
It turns out that the ultrasonic chirrup can serve a number of purposes.
Baby mice use it to call their mothers.
Female mice use the high pitched squee to get acquainted with other females.
And for male mice, the ultrasonic squeak is a way to show off their masculinity –
A bit like the Bee Gees did, back in the day.
What prompts the male mice to sing their falsetto serenades?
Not a very romantic cue – the female’s… urine.
When the male senses the presence of a female (or rather the fact that she went to the toilet
not so long ago), he bursts into a complex, ambitious ballad.
This song is highly attractive to the female.
When the female finally appears on the scene, the male’s
song becomes much more simple.
The syllables are not as long, varied or loud as before, and the pitch is lower.
This is presumably because he has already gained the female's atttention,
and can now focus on the more carnal side of the relationship.