The ardent mouse relies on melody to woo his mate

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/01/wmice01.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/01/ixportal.html

When a male mouse meets the object of his desire he sings her a love song, scientists have discovered.

It has long been known that male mice utter ultrasonic squeaks in the presence of the opposite sex, but a study using the latest computer analysis has established for the first time that these are more than mere random sounds - they are full-blooded love ballads.

Courtship melodies, which are sung at a frequency beyond human hearing, are common among birds, insects, and frogs, but such behaviour in mammals had been thought to be restricted to humans, whales and bats.

The discovery that mice have a gift for song could mark the most significant leap in the understanding of rodents since it was discovered a few years ago that rats have a chirp-like laugh.

[acmavm]

1. This just proves another of my pet theories. We have always sold the

animal kingdom short when it comes to understanding how 'intelligent' they are. Is it still taught in schools that animals have no understanding of a situation or their surrounding, that everything they do is from instinct? Well, I never bought into that scenario (hate that word) and I never will. The animal kingdom has a lot of surprises in store from us arrogant (and not as smart as we think we are) human beings.

[Tesha]

2. Wait until we discover that mice are actually...

> We have always sold the animal kingdom short when it comes
> to understanding how 'intelligent' they are.

Wait until we discover that mice are actually hyper-intelligent
pan-dimensional beings. That'll be a real shocker!

Tesha

[benburch]

3. I, for one, welcome our new mouse overlords. nt

[GrpCaptMandrake]

4. So that's what mice do

I assume rats just talk about "fambly valyooz" and "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here" and the "kutcher of liiiiife." I've heard it's big with the fundamentalist rats.

[greyl]

5. Here are the mp3s and Guardian story:

They are really cool to hear - close to what you may expect, yet still unique.

Link from a thread in GD.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1605806,00.html?gusrc=rss

[htuttle]

6. WARNING! DO NOT LISTEN TO THOSE MP3's WITHOUT HEADPHONES!

Just...just trust me on this. Especially if you live in an old house...

[Nihil]

7. Oops!

:spray:

[greyl]

8. lol :) nt