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| Scientists have known for decades that male lab
mice produce high-frequency sounds when they pick up the scent of a
female mouse, but it turns out those sounds are more complex and
interesting than previously thought. |
Songbirds may be the Sinatras of the animal world,
but male mice can carry a tune too, say Washington University researchers
who were surprised by what they heard.
Scientists have known for decades that male lab
mice produce high-frequency sounds - undetectable by human ears - when
they pick up the scent of a female mouse. This high-pitched babble is
presumably
for
courtship, although scientists are not certain.
But it turns out those sounds are more complex and interesting than
previously thought.
"It soon became apparent that these vocalizations were not random
twitterings but songs," said researcher Timothy Holy. "There was a pattern
to them. They sounded a lot like bird songs."
To make their point, the researchers provided audio recordings of the
sounds, which have been modified for human ears. The recordings do indeed
sound birdlike.
The findings by the researchers at Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis are published online Tuesday in the journal Public
Library of Science Biology.
If the analysis by the researchers is confirmed, mice can be added to
the short list of creatures that sing in the presence of the opposite sex,
including songbirds, humpback whales, porpoises, insects and, possibly,
bats.
"There was joy in this discovery," Holy said. "We didn't expect it."
The finding opens the possibility of using mice to
study and develop treatments for autism
and other communication disorders, said Holy, the
lead author and assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the
university's medical school.
Bird song is used to understand how the human brain works. But some
questions might be posed better with mice, for experimental convenience,
he said.
If it is true that the male mice are producing songs, it raises
questions about how their sounds develop and whether mice - like birds -
are able to learn new sounds, said animal communication expert Peter Marler, a behavioral neurobiologist at University of
California, Davis.
(Agencies) |
鳴雀也許是動(dòng)物世界中的法蘭克·辛納屈（能歌能演的全能藝人，曾演唱過多首經(jīng)典歌曲），然而，雄性老鼠同樣可以發(fā)出“曲調(diào)優(yōu)美”的聲音。華盛頓大學(xué)的研究者們在實(shí)驗(yàn)室中聽到了雄性老鼠有規(guī)律的叫聲，這著實(shí)讓他們吃了一驚。
幾十年前科學(xué)家們就知道，當(dāng)實(shí)驗(yàn)室中的雄性老鼠聞到雌性老鼠的氣味時(shí)，會(huì)發(fā)出高頻率的聲音，這種聲音人耳通常是無法察覺的。據(jù)推測，雄性老鼠發(fā)出這種含糊不清的高頻聲音是在求愛，盡管科學(xué)家對這一點(diǎn)還不是很確定。
但這種聲音要比以前認(rèn)識的復(fù)雜得多，也有趣得多。
“很快，我們就知道這些發(fā)聲法不是雜亂無章的喋喋不休，而是歌聲。它們有固定的形式，聽上去更像鳥兒的歌聲，”研究者蒂莫西·霍利說。
為了證明他們的觀點(diǎn)，研究者們提供了雄性老鼠發(fā)出聲音的錄音，經(jīng)過處理后人耳可以聽得到，這些錄音聽上去確實(shí)很像小鳥的聲音。
華盛頓大學(xué)圣路易醫(yī)學(xué)院的研究者們周二把研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在生物學(xué)公共圖書館的網(wǎng)站上。
如果研究者們的分析能夠得到證實(shí)，老鼠可以加入會(huì)在異性面前“唱歌”的生物之列，這類動(dòng)物包括鳴雀、座頭鯨、昆蟲，可能還有蝙蝠。
“這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)很有趣，我們沒有想到這樣的結(jié)果。”他說。
這一發(fā)現(xiàn)使得用老鼠來做研究，開發(fā)治療孤獨(dú)癥和其他溝通障礙成為可能，霍利說。他是這個(gè)研究報(bào)告的主要作者，也是華盛頓大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院神經(jīng)生物學(xué)和解剖學(xué)的副教授。
小鳥的歌聲通常被用來了解人腦的工作方式，如果這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)被證實(shí)的話，可以用老鼠來做實(shí)驗(yàn)，這樣會(huì)更方便，也會(huì)提出更多問題。
如果雄性老鼠真的會(huì)“唱歌”的話，那么問題就是它們的聲音是怎么發(fā)出來的，還有老鼠是不是也像小鳥一樣能夠?qū)W一些新的聲音，動(dòng)物溝通專家彼得·馬勒說，他是美國加州大學(xué)戴維斯分校行為神經(jīng)生物學(xué)家。
(中國日報(bào)網(wǎng)站薛曉文編譯) |
Updated: 2005-11-03 09:43
