Male Mice Sing Romantic Songs to Attract Females

Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna have discovered that the male house mice sing romantic songs to attract the females.

The male mice sing when they encounter the scent of a female, and that females are attracted to these songs.

Unfortunately, these romantic tunes can't be heard by the human ear because they are in ultrasonic range.

Researchers used spectrographic to analysis these ultrasonic vocalizations of the mice. They examined the duration, pitch and frequency of the songs.

The researchers found that each of the mice produced unique songs. They also found that the songs of other siblings were quite different from other male mice. This could explain how females can distinguish between related and unrelated mice.

"It seems that house mice could be a new model organism for the study of animal vocal," says Dustin Penn of the University of Veterinary Medicine.