Mice sing a song of love!

Amazing!

Surely the mouse is an animal that we know all about but no, once again our own limited faculties have mislead us! Research has just been published that has revealed that that male mice sing subtle songs to attract their mates and we did not know this because it is at a higher frequency than we can hear. (I say 'once again; because we have misjudged the communications of other species because they were outside of our own range of senses, but how incredible that we did not know this of mice.)

Here is what the researchers said: "We found that male mice ... emit longer and simpler syllables and sequences when singing to females, but more complex syllables and sequences in response to fresh female urine. Playback experiments show that the females prefer the complex songs over the simpler ones. We propose the complex songs are to lure females in, whereas the directed simpler sequences are used for direct courtship."

Yes I know it is a rat - but I don't have photograph of a mouse and at least it is a rodent
(here raiding one of my bird feeders)

So now we have laughing rats and singing mice!

Source: Guardian 

Ratfans - see also Rats Return Favours HERE