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Animal ScienceGiraffes spend their evenings humming to each other (newscientist.com)

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[–]Justicles13 714ポイント715ポイント  (75子コメント)

TL;DR

  • it's not below our hearing threshold, it's at 92 Hz

  • previously, scientists had wondered about how giraffes communicate since scientists speculated that they couldn't produce normal vocal sounds due to their long necks

  • only happens at night so it could be a passive sound like snoring, or a cooing sound saying "I'm here."

  • so far, they haven't observed the giraffes mid hum so there's more to be studied here.

Edit: see bolded

[–]SkidMark_wahlberg 148ポイント149ポイント  (36子コメント)

To my untrained ears, the audio clip does sound like snoring.

[–]Hibbity5 42ポイント43ポイント  (14子コメント)

Sounds like the giants from Majora's Mask.

This is a really awesome find though. Would the low frequency be a byproduct of their evolved long necks or would it be more meaningful?

[–]InherentlyDamned 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

It might be neck related. Alpacas have longish necks and they also hum to each other to communicate.

[–]gsuberland 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Alpacas are just awesome in general. They're protective animals, so farmers use them to guard against foxes.

[–]toxicmischief 7ポイント8ポイント  (6子コメント)

There are giants in Majora's Mask? I really feel like I need to play that.

I mean I would assume the low frequency is neck length related, but it's been awhile since I played any instrument so I'm not sure longer would equal a lower frequency or not. Always thought it depended on the width.

[–]Koh-the-Face-Stealer 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

There are giants in Majora's Mask?

Dude, seriously?

[–]LifeInBinary 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

They're kind of the main point of the game

[–]toxicmischief 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Never played it. Only really know about the moon and the mask.

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    コメントをもっと表示する (3 返事)

      [–]Hyperian 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

      i heard a drop half way through.

      [–]ajarndaniel 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

      Those are very broken, intonated snores if they are snores.

      [–]HotPink124 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

      That's exactly what came to mind when I heard it. Especially with those long necks crooked in a weird position. I could see it.

      コメントをもっと表示する (2 返事)

        [–]Rylix 55ポイント56ポイント  (14子コメント)

        Kind of relevant:

        Sound of a baby giraffe

        It sounds similar.

        [–]Ted_Day 26ポイント27ポイント  (4子コメント)

        The vocalizations almost seem like those of larger cetaceans. Actually very interesting.

        [–]SexySexyLittleForks 19ポイント20ポイント  (2子コメント)

        I wonder if this is a purely mechanical issue. Like the length of vocal chords or something. Personally, I find this achingly beautiful.

        [–]exatron 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

        My first though was the length and diameter of the airway, like how a pipe organ makes different notes.

        [–]ScottWalkerSucks 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

        I find this achingly beautiful.

        ..... uh... you should date a deaf chick dude. For sure.

        [–]Infin1ty 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

        What do baby giraffes eat?

        [–]Ricochet_ger 23ポイント24ポイント  (0子コメント)

        Giraffe milk

        [–]Rylix 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

        A newborn giraffe will suckle its mother’s milk as soon as it can stand up. Calves are reliant on their mother’s milk for up to 9-12 months. Solid food (leaves) can be eaten from about 4 months at which time calves begin to ruminate.

        Facts about giraffes

        コメントをもっと表示する (2 返事)

          [–]WhatSheOrder 25ポイント26ポイント  (6子コメント)

          I read the title as "humping each other" until I saw you type 92 Hz. And then I wondered about how loud that giraffe sex would be.

          I am not a smart man.

          [–]dietbroccoli 15ポイント16ポイント  (2子コメント)

          Hz is a measurement of frequency, so loudness wouldn't really be a factor. How fast, more like.

          [–]WhatSheOrder 40ポイント41ポイント  (0子コメント)

          I am not a smart man.

          [–]Frater_Petrichor 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

          They also do that

          [–]juusukun 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

          It's also not just one frequency but a range

          [–]anastrophe 14ポイント15ポイント  (8子コメント)

          "since they can't produce normal vocal sounds due to their long necks"

          No, that's not what the article says. It says that some scientists speculated that that might by why they hadn't heard vocalizations.

          It's actually a pretty idiotic speculation. Giraffes are capable of running - and they can go at very high speed. If it were "physically difficult for them to generate sufficient air flow through their long necks to produce vocalisations" as the article puts it, then they'd have difficulty even walking around at a normal pace.

          It was an illogical speculation to begin with.

          [–]ZippyDan 19ポイント20ポイント  (6子コメント)

          producing sound and respiration are two completely different capabilities: why are you confounding them now?

          the ability to produce sound in humans comes from several factors: airflow, specialized vocal chords, the size, shape (and in this case length) of the sound chamber. I don't see them doubting airflow as one of the suspected problems, so why are you making that jump?

          [–]AlmightyRedditor 1ポイント2ポイント  (4子コメント)

          He's just saying that a good respiratory system is normally associated with a good circulatory system, in most animals, and that the chances of that not being the case in camels is low. I don't know why he said idiotic, though, because it's just speculation.

          [–]Helenarth 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

          ...camels?

          [–]ZippyDan 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

          Yes but the original "speculation" that he quoted and is responding to says nothing about good airflow being a problem: it talks about the size / shape of their necks potentially being a problem. He calls this an "illogical speculation" by bringing airflow into the discussion, which was never part of the original speculation. Judging the ability to produce sounds based on the structure of the airway seems like a very valid form of speculation to me. And... camels?

          コメントをもっと表示する (1 返事)

            [–]Justicles13 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

            I edited the comment to add "scientists speculated"

            [–]killerado 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

            Is this going to be like the elephant thing that is just a result of captivity?

            コメントをもっと表示する (1 返事)

              [–]MarlonBain 33ポイント34ポイント  (13子コメント)

              Here is a tone generator. 92hz is pretty low.

              [–]theywouldnotstand 9ポイント10ポイント  (2子コメント)

              When I enter '92' my 9 gets turned into an 8. Is this happening for anyone else?

              edit: Only happens when entering from numpad. Probably detects the "down arrow" in addition to the 2. If you run into this, try your other number keys.

              [–]elislider 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

              likewise. that is bizarre

              [–]butthead22 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

              Yes, thought keyboard wasn't working right. Frantic num-locking and whatnot, decided it was an issue on their end.

              [–]extracoffeeplease 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

              Yep, below the limits of my phone speaker.

              [–]failfastfailoften 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

              Thanks! That was awesome to have to relate to the article and to just play with. You rock!! : )

              [–]SoundAGiraffeMakes 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

              I can translate for y'all if you'd like...

              [–]LouisArmstrong3 0ポイント1ポイント  (5子コメント)

              the lowest i could go is 24. i couldnt hear a difference between 23 and nothing. do i win?

              [–]MEatRHIT 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

              I've used other tone generators, my home system models to play down near 10Hz. Human threshold is somewhere in the range of 20Hz (depends on the person) but you can still "feel" the lower frequencies which are referred to as infrasonics, the only time they come into play is in a few movies they'll go down to about 15Hz or so.

              コメントをもっと表示する (4 返事)

                [–]mysteryoeuf 75ポイント76ポイント  (7子コメント)

                That humming really has the potential to be really creepy / unsettling. Cool article and findings though!

                [–]Charlie_Warlie 17ポイント18ポイント  (4子コメント)

                It sounds like someone's voice slowed down. I wonder what it would sound like sped up.

                [–]Zentaurion 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Made me think of the Cloverfield monster.

                [–]CONSPIRING_PATRIARCH 40ポイント41ポイント  (12子コメント)

                "92 Hz. That’s not infrasound – we can still just about hear it with our ears"

                Funny, I was pretty certain people could hear/feel down to about 20 Hz. Maybe it's the volume of the sound that isn't really audible without amplification? It's hard to take an article seriously when they open with shit like that.

                [–]R0FL_LAUNCHER 27ポイント28ポイント  (8子コメント)

                Frequency does not measure volume, decibels rate volume. Frequency is the number of (repeated) waves that are transmitted per second by a constant sound. 92 Hz technically means that the long horse is producing 92 waves of sound per second.

                The average human can detect down to 20 Hz, after that the waves are being transmitted too slowly for us to detect.

                Edit: Just reread your comment. Realized you weren't getting volume and frequency mixed up. You were downvoted though, so maybe this will clear up some confusion for other people.

                [–]Derwos 13ポイント14ポイント  (1子コメント)

                In other words, frequency rates pitch, decibels rate volume.

                [–]R0FL_LAUNCHER 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Yep. That is significantly more precise and concise than what I wrote!

                [–]CONSPIRING_PATRIARCH 4ポイント5ポイント  (2子コメント)

                Yeah, I was kinda exploring "out loud" on why anyone would say "we can still just about hear it with our ears" when in fact we absolutely can.

                [–]CyclingZap 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

                the waves are always being transmitted at the speed of sound though. ;)

                [–]Totally_Not_Dog 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

                A good point actually. To anyone who may read this and wants to learn about sound (probably nobody. That's ok. I just like to talk): Pitch/frequency measures the length of time between peaks of sound waves/how many sound waves occur per second.

                Now this may be a little confusing because frequency IS a speed. It's the speed at which the sound waves are being produced. But it is NOT the speed at which they're moving through the air.

                Basically the higher the frequency, the smaller the waves, length-wise. The smaller the waves are, the more scrunched together they are. The more scrunched together they are, the more waves can fit into a given length of time, and the more frequently they can be generated. As waves get more scrunched, frequency increases and pitch increases.

                When I was first learning about music nobody explained this well enough to me and I had the concepts totally confused. Maybe some day another confused person will read this and suddenly they'll understand frequency. If this post helps even one person, it'll be worth the 17 long hours it took to write it.

                [–]base736 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

                I feel like this was a language mistake, and the author was looking for "just barely", not "just about".

                [–]CONSPIRING_PATRIARCH 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Yeah, it unfortunately makes the author look like they didn't have a clue what infrasound was before they wrote the article.

                [–]bradn 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                20 Hz is around the limit that the ear itself can pick up, but lower sounds than that can still be felt if they're intense enough or you can feel vibrations on something with your fingers, etc.

                [–]backmask 10ポイント11ポイント  (0子コメント)

                I don't know why, but there was something incredibly soothing about that sound (obviously very low tones are soothing to a lot of people, but there was something else to it).

                [–]whatthefatProfessor | Sleep and Circadian Rhythms | Mathematical Modeling 20ポイント21ポイント  (0子コメント)

                It's a rather misleading headline, because all that was established is that giraffes sometimes make noises at night. There were no measurements of behavior during the noises, so we have no idea whether it is a form of active communication (as suggested by "humming to each other") or simply a passive sound associated with sleep, such as snoring. The paper itself is quite clear on this point, although sleep is never specifically mentioned,

                In this study, however, due to absent behavioural data during acoustic recordings, we are unable to make any statement about the context-specific use, or the potential active or passive communicative role of humming.

                [–]Alexisunderwater 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

                This is really great. I wonder if the giraffes experience pleasure from hearing their herd(?) mates. In social-bonding sort of way.

                On personal level I love this. It's nice to imagine giraffes doing a bonding ritual being comforted by each other.

                [–]Jebbediahh 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Am I the only one thinking that this noise is really a stress related behavior of giraffes kept in captivity? Because that dude did say the only time he had heard it was when I'm on the giraffe was upset about what was happening to her baby giraffe. Seems like in order to figure out if it's a "normal"behavior would be to observe it in nature, hopefully in non-distressed giraffes.

                [–]PM_YOURSELF_GIRAFFES 26ポイント27ポイント  (2子コメント)

                Giraffe communication is fascinating.

                This article explains so much about me.

                [–]mariocart 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

                It explains a lot about yourself

                [–]Traumfahrer 10ポイント11ポイント  (2子コメント)

                This seems like a thing we should've discovered some hundread years ago.

                [–]mirziemlichegal 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

                exactly...how can we not have discovered this before? I guess tribes that live near giraffes did know that giraffes make such sounds.

                [–]CitizenPremier 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

                It seems like you have to get pretty close to giraffes to know this.

                So maybe somebody snuck up on giraffes once when they were sleeping, but the fact that they make noise still probably wasn't significant enough information to be passed on or recorded.

                [–]koolaidman04 20ポイント21ポイント  (7子コメント)

                If this is truly communication and normal behavior then how have we not noticed this in the hundreds of years of handling captive giraffes?

                [–]WeebleWobs 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Or the giraffes in the zoo are mentally insane and that humming is not their natural behavior in their natural habitat

                [–]EdChigliak 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                That is insanely adorable.

                [–]DikusHeadus 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

                Sounded like the scene in War of the Worlds when the aliens arrive to me.

                [–]Mewnity 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

                It's like a low'n'slow verbal fart :O

                [–]entotheenth 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

                oh wow, I have heard this and wondered what the hell made the noise. I used to walk my dog in a park at night directly backing onto the zoo as he loved the smells and sounds, you get some funky noises after midnight.

                [–]EggrollsForever 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

                Because they don't know the words

                [–]megafallout3fan 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                The noise sounds like a whale noise to me.

                [–]shelf_satisfied 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

                How could they not have installed some cameras in the giraffe enclosure, in order to SEE what was going on during these sounds? Kinda dumb.

                [–]jeeverz 8ポイント9ポイント  (2子コメント)

                Geraffes are so dumb.

                ;)

                [–]grendelt 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

                They probably just don't know the lyrics because giraffes can't read.

                [–]CaptMorgan74 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Came looking for the remix. Was disappointed. However, when I was in Kenya a few years ago at Amboseli, I heard a very similar noise at night. I assumed it was the wildebeest.

                [–]farbaute 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Can the humming be stopped?

                [–]Algernoq 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

                "evenings humping each other" was what I read the first 5 times I saw this title.

                [–]imhotep4 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Gerrafes are so dumb.

                [–]thatgerhard 2ポイント3ポイント  (3子コメント)

                Does this mean they have a concept of music?

                [–]iamasecretthrowaway 1ポイント2ポイント  (2子コメント)

                Silly scientists. They won't long-range-communicate with their super-sub-human-hearing-sounds because they're right next to each other in the same exhibit! Put one of them in with the lions or something and see if he calls for help to his far away friends.

                But that's probably inhumane. We'll need to cripple the lions or something so they can't catch the giraffe.

                [–]Zeitgeis1 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Similar to purring I'm guessing?

                [–]IcyOrio 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Wow, the "hums" reeealllly remind me of Big Daddies from Bioshock, kind of intimidating.

                [–]sunnylon 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Nice giraffes

                [–]TimeForSomeCoffee 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                That sounds wonderful.

                [–]lavaslippers 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                This is neat.

                "We can just about here it [92Hz] with our ears." Actually, 92Hz is very easily in our range of hearing. Yeesh.

                [–]xboxoneps4 -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

                the animal brain is something that never fails to astonish me

                [–]Jamdust 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                It sounds like something from Shadow of the Colossus. Cool discovery.

                [–]meteaz_apps 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                All I can imagine is hmmm mmm mu mu, he hu ma mu mu the lion sleeps tonight....

                [–]GameAdvise 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                I wonder whether the Hums contains the frequency of Emotions itself.

                [–]alpha_beta_waves 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

                Giraffes are amazing. They SLEEP THE LEAST of any mammal.

                [–]Cooljazz58 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Are there any other animals that do this?

                [–]_0o0_ 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                is this like throat singing? because i would imagine that would be awesome.

                [–]Widgetcraft 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

                Unfortunately, Stöger says she and her colleagues were not able to actually observe the giraffes mid-hum, so we don’t know about the behaviours associated with the sounds.

                What? Why not?

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