crocodile are noisy creatures . They ’re the most vocal reptile apart from birds ( which arepart of the reptile familyeven if we do n’t unremarkably lump them together with Snake and lizards ) . However , we do n’t sleep together much about how and why crocodilians ( a super play terminus that encompasses crocs , alligator , and the like ) bellow .
A young discipline in theJournal of Experimental Biology , led by biologists at the University of Vienna , attempts to get to the bottom of this question in a path you might be familiar with from childhood birthday parties : inhaling helium .
Humans and other animals likemonkeysand bird bank onresonance — the quiver of air in the vocal nerve tract — to make the speech sound postulate in telling and talking . Because soundtravels fasterthrough atomic number 2 than oxygen , talking after inhale atomic number 2 take high reverberative frequence , amplifying high vocal sounds . Thus having a bird — or in this case , a crocodile — inhale helium is an easy way to determine whether the animal ’s vocals rely on rapport ( not all do ) .
The researchers put a crocodile in a particular tank filled with a helium and oxygen mixture , then exposed her to audio recordings of other crocodiles so that she would bawl . compare to when she bellowed in normal air , her vocalizations shifted to higher oftenness in the helium condition , suggesting that crocodile do in fact employ resonance . ( Listen above : The first two sound are vocalizations in normal gentle wind ; the second two are the crocodile bellowing in the helium mixture environment . )
This is the first time scientist have observed resonance in reptilian other than Bronx cheer , and it suggests that crocodiles apply their voice to transmit sure aspects of themselves to fellow crocs , like their consistency size of it .
Since birds and crocodiles are bothdescended from dinosaurs , and they both seem to use rapport , dinosaur may have used a similar mechanics to announce themselves to the world .
[ h / t : Washington PostviaIFLScience ]
