[Animals] The investigation that revealed the “secret” form of communication of 50 marine animals that were believed to be silent

[Akrapovic]

If humans had listened to turtles earlier, we might have known that they send messages.

 

 

The creatures were sending messages all along, but humans never thought to listen to them, suggests Gabriel Jorgewich Cohen.

The scientist used microphones to record species, including turtles, communicating that they wanted to mate or hatch.

The findings are intended to rewrite some of what we know about evolution.

They suggest that all vertebrates that breathe through the nose and use sound to communicate descended from a single ancestor 400 million years ago.

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It's a strong claim in evolutionary biology that debates whether living things descend from a single ancestor or from multiple origins.

Jorgewich Cohen, a doctoral student at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, began his research with a hunch that marine animals could communicate with sounds.

He used audio and video equipment to record 53 captive species from around the world, including 50 turtles, one tuatara, one lungfish and one caecilian.

A South American river turtle sending a message during the investigation.
IMAGE SOURCE, GABRIEL JORGEWICH-COHEN
Caption,
A South American river turtle sending a message during the investigation.

All of these animals were thought to be mute, but Georgewich Cohen suggests that no one heard them because their sounds were hard to detect.

"We know when a bird sings. You don't need anyone to tell you what it is. But some of these animals are very quiet or make a sound every other day," he told the BBC.

Jorgewich Cohen also suggested that humans have a bias towards creatures that live on land, and therefore ignored underwater species.

The relationship between animals that make noise
Recorded video of the animals making noise allowed him to connect the sound with an associated behavior and distinguish accidental sounds that do not send a message.

"Sea turtles sing from inside their egg to synchronize hatching," he explained.

"If they call from inside, they all come out together and hopefully avoid being eaten," he added.

tuatara
Caption,
Tuataras make noise to prevent animals from violating their territory.

Turtles also make noises to signal that they want to mate, he said, noting videos of turtle mating sounds that are po[CENSORED]r on social media.

Jorgewich Cohen also recorded tuataras making sounds to protect their territory.

He then began to consider what the discovery revealed about the evolution of noise-making animals.

Fossils often don't tell scientists enough about animals that lived millions of years ago, so they compare the behavior of living animals.

Using a technique called phylogenetic analysis, Jorgevich Cohen traced the relationship between animals that make noises.

The technique works by comparing the behaviors of a species and mapping them as a family tree. If, for example, a human and a chimpanzee share behaviors like making noise, it suggests that the common ancestor also made sounds.

 

link: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-63408260