7 Amazing Animal Musicians

From frogs chirping through the night to whales humming across the oceans, nature is full of fantastic music. Not all of it sounds pleasant to the human ear, of course (the droning of cicadas can cause ear damage at close range, and even crickets can wear out their welcome), but it's hard not to admire the way animals make such complex and astounding noises. 

从夜间鸣叫的青蛙到在海洋中嗡嗡作响的鲸鱼，大自然充满了美妙的音乐。 当然，并非所有这些听起来对人耳都是悦耳的（蝉的嗡嗡声会在近距离造成耳朵损伤，甚至蟋蟀也会厌倦它们的欢迎），但很难不欣赏动物制作如此复杂和令人震惊的方式 噪音。

There's more to animal calls than just taking a deep breath and hollering. Some animals play their bodies like instruments, and others make sounds that humans need machines to pick up. To highlight some of this diversity, we've compiled a list of 7 unusual animal sounds, some of which make music that seems almost... philharmonic.

动物的叫声不仅仅是深呼吸和大喊大叫。 一些动物像乐器一样演奏它们的身体，而另一些动物则发出人类需要机器才能听到的声音。 为了突出这种多样性，我们编制了 7 种不同寻常的动物声音的列表，其中一些使音乐看起来几乎是……爱乐。




The Bass: Elephant
低音：大象

Elephants may be best known for their raucous trumpeting, but they also make the ground vibrate with "infrasound," sounds too low for the human ear but that can travel up to six miles away. What exactly is being communicated in these deep sounds is unknown, but female elephants will often make infrasound when they're ready to mate, and these calls seem to get the attention of amorous males. Elephants can pick up infrasound in two ways: through the bones of their legs that transmit the vibrations to their inner ears, or with nerves in the pads of their feet. While listening to infrasound, elephants will often press their trunk into the ground and lift one leg onto its toes, possibly to hear the sound more clearly. 

大象可能以其喧闹的喇叭声而闻名，但它们也会用“次声波”使地面振动，对于人耳来说听起来太低了，但可以传播到六英里以外。 这些深沉的声音究竟传达了什么尚不清楚，但雌性大象在准备交配时经常会发出次声，而这些叫声似乎会引起多情雄性的注意。 大象可以通过两种方式接收次声：通过腿骨将振动传递到内耳，或者通过脚垫中的神经。 在聆听次声波时，大象通常会将它们的躯干压入地面，并将一条腿抬到脚趾上，可能是为了更清楚地听到声音。

The Soprano: Bat 

女高音：蝙蝠


For a long time, it was believed that bats only made sounds either to echolocate, or to identify their young in colonies. However, it's now known that bats have much more involved social lives, and that some species guard territories and court females with songs too high for humans to pick up. Studies have unfortunately not been done on all 1,200 species of bat, but the white-lined bat, sac-winged bat, and Brazilian free-tailed bat have all been recorded singing to their mates and to contest other males. Bat songs are two to four times higher than humans can hear, but when slowed down, they sound a lot like chirping songbirds.

长期以来，人们认为蝙蝠发出声音只是为了回声定位，或者在殖民地识别它们的幼崽。 然而，现在人们知道蝙蝠的社会生活要多得多，而且一些物种守卫着领地，并以高得人类无法听懂的歌声向雌性求爱。 不幸的是，尚未对所有 1,200 种蝙蝠进行研究，但白线蝙蝠、囊翅蝙蝠和巴西无尾蝙蝠都被记录下来向它们的配偶唱歌并与其他雄性竞争。 蝙蝠的歌声比人类能听到的高两到四倍，但当放慢速度时，它们听起来很像鸣叫的鸣禽。



The Duet: Mosquito
二重奏：蚊子

Wait, what? Mosquitoes don't make music... do they? Although the whine of a mosquito's wings is irritating to humans, it sounds like amore to other mosquitoes. Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes whine at 400 hertz, while males whine at 600 hertz, a useful adaptation to make sure males don't accidentally go chasing each other. However, when they meet, both mosquitoes alter their wingbeats so that their harmonics match. Who would have thought that these buzzy bloodsuckers had an ear for intervals? 

等等，什么？ 蚊子不会发出音乐……是吗？ 虽然蚊子翅膀发出的呜呜声对人类来说很烦人，但对其他蚊子来说，它听起来很可爱。 雌性埃及伊蚊的鸣叫频率为 400 赫兹，而雄性埃及伊蚊的鸣叫频率为 600 赫兹，这是一种有用的适应方法，可以确保雄性不会意外地互相追逐。 然而，当它们相遇时，两只蚊子都会改变它们的翼拍，以便它们的谐波匹配。 谁会想到这些嗡嗡作响的吸血鬼有一个间隔的耳朵？

Drums: Woodpecker 

鼓：啄木鸟


Woodpeckers are adapted to peck a lot of wood before they get hurt or tired, with an extra-thick beak, powerful neck, and reinforced skull. But they don't sing. They can chirp, but don't have a long, complex song to attract mates. Instead, to communicate, woodpeckers do what they do best -- they drum. Apart from excavating and drilling for food or to make nests, woodpeckers will knock on hollow tree trunks in a pattern unique to their species, both to defend territory and to attract mates. Both male and female woodpeckers drum, and in suburban areas, they like to drum on rain gutters and houses. After all, what's a house but a big hollow tree? Check out the video to see a woodpecker drumming on a lamp post. 

啄木鸟适应在受伤或疲倦之前啄很多木头，它们有超厚的喙、有力的脖子和加固的头骨。 但他们不会唱歌。 他们可以唧唧喳喳，但没有长而复杂的歌曲来吸引伴侣。 相反，为了交流，啄木鸟会做他们最擅长的事情——他们打鼓。 除了挖掘和钻孔以获取食物或筑巢外，啄木鸟还会以它们物种独有的模式敲打空心的树干，既可以保卫领土，也可以吸引配偶。 雄性和雌性啄木鸟都打鼓，在郊区，他们喜欢在雨水槽和房屋上打鼓。 毕竟，房子不是一棵大空心树吗？ 观看视频，看看一只啄木鸟在灯柱上打鼓。

Strings: Club-winged Manakin

琴弦：棒翅马纳金


Manakins are a family of small, colorful birds native to Central and South America. All male manakins gather to display to females, a behavior known as "lekking." But for the club-winged manakin, a display doesn't mean strutting or singing. These birds have strange feathers, including a club-shaped "scraper" and a ridged "comb." The male manakin vibrates its wings faster than a hummingbird, and the scraper rubs across the ridges of the comb, vibrating all the bird's primaries and making a tone like a violin. The club-winged manakin even has solid bones in its wings, where most birds have hollow ones, all the better for making sound. 

Manakins 是一种色彩鲜艳的小型鸟类，原产于中美洲和南美洲。 所有雄性马纳金都聚集在一起向雌性展示，这种行为被称为“lekking”。 但对于长着俱乐部翅膀的马纳金来说，展示并不意味着昂首阔步或唱歌。 这些鸟有奇怪的羽毛，包括一个棒状的“刮刀”和一个脊状的“梳子”。 雄性马纳金的翅膀振动速度比蜂鸟还快，刮板在蜂巢的脊上摩擦，振动着鸟的所有初音，发出像小提琴一样的音调。 棒翅马纳金的翅膀甚至有实心骨头，而大多数鸟类的翅膀都是空心的，更适合发出声音。

Woodwinds: Anna's Hummingbird
木管乐器：安娜的蜂鸟



When it comes to courtship, hummingbirds cover all their bases. Not only do the males sport dazzling, iridescent feathers, and not only do they sing complex songs, but they also perform daredevil stunts for their female audience, diving out of the sky at great speed before pulling up at the last second. Many times, they combine tactics, singing or flashing their feathers as they fly. And when Anna's hummingbirds dive, they are heard to produce a loud squeak or whistle. As it turns out, this squeak isn't made by the hummingbird's voice, but rather by its tail! Specialized feathers on the edges of the hummingbird's tail catch the wind when it blows at high speed, and vibrate, producing a brilliant punctuation to the bird's death-defying display. 

在求爱方面，蜂鸟覆盖了它们的所有基地。 雄性不仅拥有耀眼的虹彩羽毛，不仅会唱出复杂的歌曲，还会为女性观众表演大胆的特技，以极快的速度从天空中跳下，最后一秒拉起。 很多时候，他们结合战术，在飞行时唱歌或闪烁他们的羽毛。 当安娜的蜂鸟潜水时，会听到它们发出响亮的吱吱声或哨声。 事实证明，这种吱吱声不是蜂鸟的声音发出的，而是它的尾巴发出的！ 蜂鸟尾巴边缘的特殊羽毛在高速吹动时会捕捉风，并振动，为鸟儿的死亡展示产生精彩的标点符号。

Brass: Elk 

铜管乐声：麋鹿


Human beings have a "descended" larynx, a voice box that lies down in the throat. In men, this shows as the "Adam's apple." The only other land animals to have this feature are elk and red deer. Not only do these deer have Adam's apples, but they can actually lower their voice boxes even further, all the way into their chests! This makes the males' bugle calls even louder and lower, making them sound larger than they are.

人类有一个“下降”的喉部，一个位于喉咙下方的语音盒。 在男性中，这表现为“亚当的苹果”。 唯一具有此功能的其他陆生动物是麋鹿和马鹿。 这些鹿不仅有亚当的苹果，而且他们实际上可以进一步降低他们的语音盒，一直到他们的胸膛！ 这使得雄性的号角更加响亮和低沉，使它们听起来比实际更大。