Singing mice - Happy vegan day!

[Guest guest]

Why male mice feel urge to break out into song

 

Ian Sample, science correspondent

Tuesday November 1, 2005

The Guardian

 

 

The mice and the mouse organ from Bagpuss. Photograph: Peter Firmin

 

 

 

They might not huddle round a marvellous mechanical mouse organ or live with

an old cloth cat called Bagpuss, but scientists have discovered that mice

are more musical than their simple squeaks suggest.

Research by a team of neuroscientists has revealed that male mice construct

complex songs and sing them for minutes at a time when they come across sex

pheromones produced by potential mates. The songs are not audible to the

human ear because they are too high frequency and although scientists knew

mice emitted ultrasonic chirps, recordings of the noises had never been

fully analysed.

 

Tim Holy and Zhongsheng Guo at Washington University School of Medicine in

Missouri discovered the murine melodies by accident. In experiments to test

how male mice responded to sex pheromones - chemicals which are found in the

urine of female mice - they recorded males as they sniffed cotton swabs

dunked in urine from females, males and a mixture of the two.

 

" We were trying to find out the brain mechanisms they used to detect and

recognise pheromones, but we noticed the sounds they made on encountering

swabs were interesting in their own right, " said Dr Holy, whose study

appears in the open access journal, Public Library of Science, Biology.

 

Instead of turning up their snouts, within seconds of encountering the scent

of female mouse urine, the males broke into ultrasonic song. Dr Holy and his

team processed the sound recordings on a computer and made them audible to

the human ear, first by slowing down the entire audio track, and then by

keeping the tempo but significantly lowering the pitch. " The first moment I

heard them I thought they sounded like songs, and they really do, " said Dr

Holy.

 

If the researchers are right, it will elevate mice to an exclusive musical

club until now populated mostly by birds, whales, dolphins and gibbons.

 

The mice used in the experiment were genetically identical and the same age,

but still the songs varied widely from mouse to mouse. Some showed a

preference for certain syllables over others while others varied how long

they spent on different syllables. There is no universal definition of song,

but variations in the sounds made and a structure that gives the utterances

rhythm make for more convincing songs, said Dr Holy. " Instead of making

sounds randomly, mice tend to repeat certain syllables a number of times,

then shift to a different syllable. It sounds a lot like the twittering of a

bird, " he said.

 

In many bird species, song helps in mate selection, with females choosing

males with the most impressive melodies.

 

" We don't know for sure why mice sing, but it probably plays a part in

courtship. But whether a male gains an advantage when it comes to mating by

singing well is something nobody has yet looked at, " said Dr Holy.

 

Because mice can easily be genetically modified to test the importance of

different genes, the discovery could have a huge impact on research as

diverse as the origins of speech, the causes of speech defects and the role

of song.

 

Peter Slater, head of the bird and mammal sound communication group at St

Andrews University, said: " With birds it's really only the males that sing,

so it would be good to see if that's true of mice too. It would confirm it's

a sexual thing.

 

Full article, including audio clips of singing mice at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1605806,00.html

[Guest guest]

I've heard of singing for your supper but....Michael Benis <michaelbenis wrote:

Why male mice feel urge to break out into song Ian Sample, science correspondentTuesday November 1, 2005The Guardian The mice and the mouse organ from Bagpuss. Photograph: Peter FirminThey might not huddle round a marvellous mechanical mouse organ or live withan old cloth cat called Bagpuss, but scientists have discovered that miceare more musical than their simple squeaks suggest.Research by a team of neuroscientists has revealed that male mice constructcomplex songs and sing them for minutes at a time when they come across sexpheromones produced by potential mates. The songs are not audible to thehuman ear because they are too high frequency and although scientists knewmice emitted ultrasonic chirps, recordings of the noises had never beenfully analysed.Tim Holy and Zhongsheng Guo at Washington

University School of Medicine inMissouri discovered the murine melodies by accident. In experiments to testhow male mice responded to sex pheromones - chemicals which are found in theurine of female mice - they recorded males as they sniffed cotton swabsdunked in urine from females, males and a mixture of the two."We were trying to find out the brain mechanisms they used to detect andrecognise pheromones, but we noticed the sounds they made on encounteringswabs were interesting in their own right," said Dr Holy, whose studyappears in the open access journal, Public Library of Science, Biology.Instead of turning up their snouts, within seconds of encountering the scentof female mouse urine, the males broke into ultrasonic song. Dr Holy and histeam processed the sound recordings on a computer and made them audible tothe human ear, first by slowing down the entire audio track, and then bykeeping the tempo but significantly

lowering the pitch. "The first moment Iheard them I thought they sounded like songs, and they really do," said DrHoly.If the researchers are right, it will elevate mice to an exclusive musicalclub until now populated mostly by birds, whales, dolphins and gibbons.The mice used in the experiment were genetically identical and the same age,but still the songs varied widely from mouse to mouse. Some showed apreference for certain syllables over others while others varied how longthey spent on different syllables. There is no universal definition of song,but variations in the sounds made and a structure that gives the utterancesrhythm make for more convincing songs, said Dr Holy. "Instead of makingsounds randomly, mice tend to repeat certain syllables a number of times,then shift to a different syllable. It sounds a lot like the twittering of abird," he said.In many bird species, song helps in mate selection, with

females choosingmales with the most impressive melodies."We don't know for sure why mice sing, but it probably plays a part incourtship. But whether a male gains an advantage when it comes to mating bysinging well is something nobody has yet looked at," said Dr Holy.Because mice can easily be genetically modified to test the importance ofdifferent genes, the discovery could have a huge impact on research asdiverse as the origins of speech, the causes of speech defects and the roleof song.Peter Slater, head of the bird and mammal sound communication group at StAndrews University, said: "With birds it's really only the males that sing,so it would be good to see if that's true of mice too. It would confirm it'sa sexual thing.Full article, including audio clips of singing mice at:http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1605806,00.html

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[Guest guest]

I listened to the mice singing and they sound very much like

birds. I was able to detect the melodic components

very sweet.

 

aujourd'hui est vegan day? I didn't know that.