Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    Menu
    Natural Sciences
    Health
    History & Humanities
    Space & Astronomy
    Technology
    Culture
    Resources
    Natural Sciences

    Physics

    • Matter and Energy
    • Quantum Mechanics
    • Thermodynamics

    Chemistry

    • Periodic Table
    • Applied Chemistry
    • Materials
    • Physical Chemistry

    Biology

    • Anatomy
    • Biochemistry
    • Ecology
    • Genetics
    • Microbiology
    • Plants and Fungi

    Geology and Paleontology

    • Planet Earth
    • Earth Dynamics
    • Rocks and Minerals
    • Volcanoes
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fossils

    Animals

    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Fish
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
    • Invertebrates
    • Pets
    • Conservation
    • Animals Facts

    Climate and Weather

    • Climate Change
    • Weather and Atmosphere

    Geography

    Mathematics

    Health
    • Drugs
    • Diseases and Conditions
    • Human Body
    • Mind and Brain
    • Food and Nutrition
    • Wellness
    History & Humanities
    • Anthropology
    • Archaeology
    • Economics
    • History
    • People
    • Sociology
    Space & Astronomy
    • The Solar System
    • The Sun
    • The Moon
    • Planets
    • Asteroids, Meteors and Comets
    • Astronomy
    • Astrophysics
    • Cosmology
    • Exoplanets and Alien Life
    • Spaceflight and Exploration
    Technology
    • Computer Science & IT
    • Engineering
    • Inventions
    • Sustainability
    • Renewable Energy
    • Green Living
    Culture
    • Culture and Society
    • Bizarre Stories
    • Lifestyle
    • Art and Music
    • Gaming
    • Books
    • Movies and Shows
    Resources
    • How To
    • Science Careers
    • Metascience
    • Fringe Science
    • Science Experiments
    • School and Study
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Environment → Animals

Small Amazon bird has the loudest call in the world

When sexual selection favors the loud.

Tibi Puiu by Tibi Puiu
October 21, 2019
in Animals, News

Some birds sing sophisticated and enchanting songs to court their mates. Male white bellbirds (Procnias albus), however, are not that artistic. Instead, they make up for their lack of musical talent with an in-your-face call. According to a recent study, their bird calls are the loudest ever recorded.

White bellbird calls are the loudest in the world. Credit: Anselmo d’Affonseca, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia

Although they’re the size of a dove, these birds emit a deafening call that’s three times louder than that of screaming pihas (the previous record holder for the loudest bird call) and even louder than the calls of howler monkeys and bison.

Jeff Podos, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, used cutting edge sound recorders, sound-level meters, and high-speed cameras to measure the amplitude of the bellbird’s calls with extremely high temporal precision.

“This allows us to see how amplitude changes and peaks within individual singing events,” he said in a statement.

These measurements showed that the bellbird emits calls that are louder than any musical instrument — an impressive feat for a creature that only weighs a quarter of a kilogram (half a pound).

The white bellbird’s call, by the way, sounds like a cross between a digital sound alarm and a really bad synthesizer. Judge for yourself from the recording below.

“We were lucky enough to see females join males on their display perches. In these cases, we saw that the males sing only their loudest songs. Not only that, they swivel dramatically during these songs, so as to blast the song’s final note directly at the females. We would love to know why females willingly stay so close to males as they sing so loudly,” he says. “Maybe they are trying to assess males up close, though at the risk of some damage to their hearing systems.”

In order to understand how such small animals are able to emit loud sounds, the researchers measured the bird’s breathing muscles, head and beak size, and its throat shape. Although this kind of analysis is still in its infancy, the authors found that there’s an inherent trade-off between size and loudness — as the birds get louder, they get smaller. They hypothesize that this may be due to the bird’s respiratory system, which has a finite ability to control airflow.

Previously, Podos and colleagues found that bellbirds have unusually well-developed abdominal muscles and ribs. In the future, the researchers would like to further study “the physical and anatomical structures and behaviors that allow bellbirds to produce such loud sounds and to endure them without hearing damage.”

The findings were reported in the journal Current Biology.

Was this helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Related posts:
  1. Do elephants call “human” ? African elephants make a specific alarm call in response to the danger of humans
  2. Humans caused ancient Pacific bird extinction that killed 10% of world bird population
  3. Researchers produce the loudest sound in the world inside tiny jets of water
  4. The elephant bird, the largest bird known to man, was actually nocturnal
  5. The elephant bird: the largest bird to have ever lived
Tags: bellbirdcallmating

ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • More
  • About Us

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t you want to get smarter every day?

YES, sign me up!

Over 35,000 subscribers can’t be wrong. Don’t worry, we never spam. By signing up you agree to our privacy policy.

✕
ZME Science News

FREE
VIEW