By Charles Choi |
November 9, 2017 12:00 pm
When the crested pigeon of
Australia flees potential foes, it can raise an alarm — not by calling out
vocally, but with whistling feathers in its wings. These new findings may be
the first proof of an idea Darwin proposed nearly 150 years ago suggesting that
birds could use feathers as musical instruments for communication.
Birds are known for the songs
they can sing, but many can also generate unusual noises with their feathers.
Darwin called these sounds “instrumental music” in his 1871 book
exploring the
role of sex in evolution. For instance, “peacocks and birds of paradise
rattle their quills together, and the vibratory movement apparently serves
merely to make a noise, for it can hardly add to the beauty of their plumage,”
Darwin wrote.
Feathers are known to produce
distinctive sounds in at least 70 different species of birds, with many of
these plumes possessing highly modified structures apparently specialized to
make these noises. However, it was difficult to prove whether birds
communicated with each other with these sounds.
For instance, scientists have
long known that crested pigeon wings whistled when the birds flew. However, one
could argue these noises were “unintentional byproducts of flight, rather than
signals that have evolved for communication,” says study lead author Trevor
Murray, a behavioral ecologist at Australian National University in Canberra.
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