The animal kingdom offers up a medley of squeaks, squawks, roars, rumbles, chirps and warbles. From the fear-inspiring growl of a lion to the smallest chirrup of a cricket, each creature’s call is distinct. Some mornings are made more beautiful by the melodious cooing of a cuckoo or the music of a songbird. But it’s not just birds that can make music in the wild. Did you know that some mammals can sing too? Animals can produce complex, long-lasting melodies that reverberate through forests, oceans, mountains, and caves. To demarcate territory, to attract a mate, or to ward off competition — the reasons these animals sing are varied, and provide prime research material to scholars. Keep your ears open for these minstrels in the wild.
Deep within the forests of Northeast India, endangered little apes bring the jungle alive with their harmonised whoops and shrieks. Hoolock gibbons are the only apes found in India, apart from humans, and their singing is one of very distinctive. These canopy dwellers rarely descend to the ground.
Every so often, a gibbon pair high up in the trees will burst into a melodious “hookoo hookoo”. As a male-female pair sing in unison for up to 30 minutes at a time, their piercing call reverberates far and wide. There are many theories around why gibbons sing, the most common of which suggests that it is to demarcate territory.
Imagine a chorus of cries, groans, and rumbles emanating from deep within the ocean. Today, we are lucky to have recorded versions of the humpback whale’s haunting song, among the most fascinating sounds of the sea. For years, researchers have been trying to decipher the motivation and meaning behind these intricate and eerie songs. Interestingly, it is only male humpbacks that sing. Studies suggest that songs are used to attract mates and also to communicate, but these aquatic giants do not sing in isolation. Like an advanced choral unit, male whales in a particular area sing in a similar fashion. Just like musicians experiment and improvise on their work, the song of the humpback too evolves over time.
We know bats possess an advanced sense of sound, using echolocation to navigate and produce ultrasonic calls that are mostly out of human hearing range. Some species, like the Mexican free-tailed bat found in Central and South America, take their sonar skills up a notch higher. Male bats sing melodiously to serenade a potential mate, or to ward off the male competition. When a male bat senses a female’s echolocation call, he’ll put his pipes to good use and warble and chirp to draw her attention.
For the most part humans cannot hear these complex vocalisations, since they’re in the ultrasonic range. Researchers spend hours listening to slowed-down versions of bat song to study their behaviour and vocal skills.
As autumn rolls around, the valleys of North America’s mountainous national parks echo with the sound of bugles. You won’t see any musicians wandering the rocky wilderness, but you will find plenty of male elks putting on a show.
Elk are the much larger cousins of the deer — all sinewy muscle and towering antlers, and their unique call is known as the bugle. During mating season, bull elk let out a sequence of loud bellows, wails, and high-pitched screeches, resulting in a rather startling mating call. The magnificent creatures cover a vast vocal spectrum, from low growls to shrill whistles, challenging other males or hoping to attract female elk.
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