Menu

Post image 1
Post image 2
Post image 3
Post image 4
Post image 5
Post image 6
Post image 7
Post image 8
1 / 8
0

Meet the whistling mice that use inflatable air sacs to sing

phys.org·Paul Arnold·20 days ago
#eFbxU94e
Reading 0:00
15s threshold

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2026.0153"> Scotinomys teguina song and potential sound production mechanisms. Credit: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2026.0153 Mice do more than just squeak when they want to make a noise. They can also sing. And the way they do it is different from most mammals that produce sounds by vibrating their vocal cords. When Alston's singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) makes its music, it does so by puffing up an air sac in its throat. The mouse that whistles Alston's singing mice are small rodents native to the cloud forests of Mexico and Central America. They communicate using high-pitched notes in long, melodic strings that are much more complex than the simple squeaks of many other rodents. Samantha Smith, an integrative biologist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and her colleagues wanted to know how these mice evolved to produce such distinctive sounds.…

Continue reading — create a free account

Join HashtagPLUS to read full articles, follow hashtags, vote, and join the conversation.

Read More