Singing in the animal kingdom?

When we think about music we don’t automatically think about animals. However, animals’ communication is usually musical. Now, here’s what I didn’t know, there is a field of musicology and zoology called zoomusicology, which is the study of the musical aspects of sound and communication produced and received by animals. I know, never imagined!

Recently, I saw a few articles about animals singing. I love whales and I knew about whale songs and how the males use it to communicate to the females that, well, they are ready to mate! Other whales use it to let other whales know they are there and coordinate food hunting activities. But scientists are also learning that other animals such as mice also use “songs” to communicate in social contexts (read here). In another study, researchers made females canaries sing by giving them testosterone. Now, it appears only the males of any species sing, not the females (hmmm). I guess they have very specific reasons why they sing, unlike humans. We like to sing for social reasons but also for personal reasons!

Well, all I can say is that music is everywhere even in the animal kingdom. And if you are not convince watch this video!

Have you heard any animal singing?