When The sun rises over the Dead Sea, the male cloaks of Israel emerge from their dark dens and begin to sing.
To the human ear, these tones sound like a mix between the crackling of a hyena and the sound of chalk sizzling on a slate slate. But for head females, each chorus is a powerful song that reverberates through the grooves—and the longer the males continue to speed, the more likely they are to capture the female.
By combining analysis Spectrum From courtship by the head damau with the results of several successive breeding seasons, scientists have shown for the first time that males who sing more and keep their rhythm better also father better offspring—according to Subscriber. study Posted in Journal of Animal Ecology.
Using colored collars and tags, the scientists were able to identify the animals from a distance and match their songs to the results of paternity tests. (Hear the males sing.)
“The simplest explanation is that consistency in terms of speed is attractive, or at least reflects quality in some way,” he says. Vlad Dimartsevthe study leader and a behavioral ecologist who worked at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior while carrying out this work.
As with man-made melodies, cable daman songs tend to get more complex as they go on, reaching a final climax that seems designed to keep listeners on their toes.
“It’s not just about producing sound, or producing it as many times as possible,” says Vlad Dimartsev.
“These animals put in a really good show,” Vlad says.
The song is mightier than the sword
For the past two decades, scientists have studied the head of the daman, a mammal the size of a rabbit and its closest relative, the elephant, in Ein Gedi Nature Reservein Israel.
When a male earns the right to live with a group of up to 30 females, juveniles and young adults, he can maintain this coveted position until the end of his days, at the age of nine.
However, in rare cases, a resident male can be ousted and removed from his position by a non-resident male called a bachelor. This may be one of the reasons why the Cape Dine male sings all year round, and not just during the mating season, which peaks for a few weeks in July and August.
According to Vlad Dimartsev, it is possible that indicating their value through singing can actually prevent aggression between males.
“It’s the kind of ritual that can reduce the need to fight, because it can be costly for both sides.”
Singles vs Residents
In another fascinating discovery, scientists have also discovered a difference in male singing styles.
Although resident males produce repetitive songs with a consistent rhythm, melodies decrease in complexity after the male takes over a group.
“All females already know him and know his qualities. They live with the male in the same burrows,” Vlad Dimartsev says. “So the male may need less investment to achieve the same goal.”
However, since most males are celibate, their songs are constantly getting more complex as they age.
This may be due to the fact that singles regularly try to attract younger females in the vicinity of the group. However, these females also tended to be less experienced mothers, which may explain why offspring of resident males are likely to survive the first year of their lives.
As for why females are attracted to males with good rhythm, Vlad adds that this remains unclear. Perhaps putting a lot of notes in one’s breath reveals a level of fitness, and arranging them in a repetitive rhythm is the most effective way to do this.
The ancient origins of rhythm
A few decades ago, many scientists assumed that animals communicate in patterns that were more or less immutable, he says. Chiara de Gregorioprimatologist at the University of Turin in Italy, and author of a 2021 study on singing lemur – The study that inspired the search for the songs of Damao do Capo.
“We are now discovering that this type of pattern can change depending on context and even other aspects, such as male quality,” says Chiara de Gregorio.
This type of research is not limited to a better understanding of head lemurs or lemurs, because whenever scientists discover another species that communicates with each other using principles like rhythm, it seems to suggest ancient origins of the components that will ultimately shape how humans are created and enjoyed. Music.
“Looking at the evidence, I think these patterns are clearly more common [no reino animal] than previously thought,” says Chiara de Gregorio.
This article was originally published in English on Site nationalgeographic.com
