It’s true: Mice actually sing, especially when they’re looking for mates. That’s not anything new. But unlike birdsong, mouse-song is much too high-pitched for humans to hear. So no, it’s not exactly Cinderella-esque. But it is shockingly intricate.
In a new study published recently in Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience, researchers at Duke University took a new approach to analyzing mouse songs: They analyzed them the way scientists analyze bird songs. They looked for changes in the way mice string together syllables, hoping to analyze whether they used and responded to different songs in different situations.
Sure enough, male mice on the lookout for an unseen female (an illusion the researchers created by exposing them to female urine) gave loud, complex song performances. But once they were in a female’s presence, they simmered down. Females seemed to be more receptive to those first, more complex songs.
The study authors believe the male mice may be expending extra energy when a female isn’t in sight, but doing the bare-minimum singing when she’s nearby. That leaves the male mouse with extra energy to physically pursue her and attempt to mate.
