老鼠的学歌能力与人类相似

 

They found that when male mice were housed together they learned to match the pitch of their songs to each other.

 

Mice also share some behavioural and brain mechanisms¹ involved in vocal² learning with songbirds（黄莺） and humans, say the researchers. 

 

But some scientists are sceptical（怀疑的）, saying the evidence doesn't support the claim. 

 

Details of the study are published in the Journal, Plos One. 

 

Previous research in this field has shown that male mice can sing complex songs when exposed to females and these play an important part in courtship（求爱，求婚）. 

 

These murine serenades are ultrasonic³. At between 50 and 100KHz, they are far above the hearing range of humans. When processed to make them audible to humans, they sound like a series of plaintive⁴ whistles. 

 

 

It has long been assumed that mice were incapable⁵ of modifying the sequence or the pitch of these sounds. This ability, called vocal learning, is rare in the natural world. It is restricted to some birds such as parrots and song birds along with whales, dolphins, sea lions, bats and elephants. 

 

But in these experiments, researchers from Duke University in North Carolina say they found that mice have both the brain circuits and the behavioural attributes consistent with vocal learning. 

 

Dr Erich Jarvis, who oversaw⁶ the study, told BBC News that it had changed his understanding of the way mice make sound.

 

"In mice we find that the pathways that are at least modulating⁷ these vocalisations are in the forebrain, in places where you actually find them in humans," he said.

 

He says the study does not have clear evidence that mice have the very same vocal abilities as birds and humans. He believes there is a spectrum⁸ where different species have vocal skills to different degrees.

 

"We think mice are intermediate in this ability between a chicken and a song bird or even a non human primate⁹ and a human," he said.

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