Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.40.0110220003170.18320-100000@panix1.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: CYBERMIND@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: [extreme] fashions in animal music (fwd)
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 00:03:24 -0400
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 23:47:20 -0400 From: Tom Ritchford <tom@swirly.com> Reply-To: extreme@topica.com To: extreme@topica.com Subject: [extreme] fashions in animal music Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 10:01:32 -0800 Subject: Re: animal intentions and random 'looping' in nature Thought some might find this of interest: Musical crazes occasionally sweep through the deep blue sea, as surely as they sweep through the world of teenagers. Male humpback whales readily learn and "sing" radically new songs from other whales, according to research published in today's issue of Nature. The phenomenon was likened by one expert to the "Beatles invasion" of U.S. musical tastes in the mid-1960s. The discovery strengthens growing suspicions that at least some higher animals' behavior isn't totally guided by genetically encoded rules. Rather, they possess a form of culture" that can be passed on nongenetically. In this case, the whales learned a new musical repertoire from other whales, instead of being restricted to tunes programmed into their DNA. Scientists have long known that humpbacks slowly change their songs over time. But this is the first known instance in which the creatures rapidly switched to a significantly different tune introduced by a foreign population of whales, according to the research team led by Michael J. Noad of the University of Sydney in Australia. Analyzing tape-recorded sounds from more than 100 male humpbacks, Noad discovered that over several months, a radically new tune sung by two humpbacks from the west coast of Australia was picked up by numerous other whales on the east coast. The shift in whale songs is "like going from rock to Sid Vicious," Noad observed during a phone interview. Among the Australian humpback whales, "the new song has become the 'flavor of the month.' "..... Why would humpback males switch tunes so fast and radically, as if switching platters from Bing Crosby to David Bowie? For now, experts can only speculate. One possibility is that by singing a different tune, a male humpback is likelier to stand out from the crowd. Hence, Noad speculates, it's likelier to attract the attention of a female humpback..... http://whatGoes.com ................ extreme NY calendar. http://ax.to/fortune ......... a new fortune every minute. http://clikTrik.com .................. Many, many photos. ------------------------- ----------------------------- extreme NY calendar: <http://extremeNY.com/calendar> extreme NY radio: <http://extremeNY.com/radio> unsubscribe: extreme-unsubscribe@topica.com extreme calendar: extremeNY-subscribe@topica.com ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aaP7Si.bVXjTc Or send an email To: extreme-unsubscribe@topica.com This email was sent to: sondheim@panix.com T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================