Do you speak bird? What about hippo?
Humans are a step closer to understanding our fellow mammals — or at least identifying them — thanks to a group of South African scientists leading an international bioacoustics project.
Earlier this month they spent a week recording animals in the Kruger National Park, the first of multiple recording sessions aimed at building up a sound library of African species. Lions, crocodiles and multiple bird species were among the initial targets. Scientists say the better their sound library, the better their efforts to decode what humans’ evolutionary cousins are grunting and tweeting about.
The project is primarily aimed at building bioacoustic capacity in Africa, where the fast-growing research field is lagging behind the developed world. Analysing animal sounds via computer software allows scientists to identify a basic vocabulary of sounds that can be linked to their behaviour.
South African researchers are already pioneering research into whale “song” and dolphin sounds, with findings that suggest whale populations have their own distinct dialects, much like humans.
With funding support, local scientists are now hoping to broaden the “acoustic net” through training and awareness programmes. The latest Kruger Park trip included community outreach to draw attention to the park’s bioacoustic diversity.
As a bioacoustician, Kruger National Park is an incredibly special space — the diversity of life is astounding and waking up early to record the birds is truly an incredible experience.
— Dr Tess Gridley, project leader and director of the African Bioacoustics Community
“As a bioacoustician, Kruger National Park is an incredibly special space — the diversity of life is astounding, and waking up early to record the birds is truly an incredible experience,” said Dr Tess Gridley, project leader and director of the African Bioacoustics Community.
“From the first voices at 4.45am, to the full dawn chorus soon after, the sounds can be overwhelming as so many species are singing all at once.’’
She said the highlight of the trip wasn’t the traditional Big Five, but rather the Bioacoustics Big Five — often overlooked species that make up for their poor visibility with attention-grabbing sound. “Recording the Black-backed Puffback was a real highlight — this is small bird which can be hard to see ... vocalises and makes clicking sounds with its wings as it forages through the undergrowth. This combined way of producing sounds is really neat to hear and to record,” said Gridley.
The team recorded more than 80 bird species, as well as the iconic lions, elephants and vervet monkeys. They even recorded crocodiles mating.
All of the recordings will be added to an online sound library “to help global efforts to recognise and monitor species using passive acoustic methods, which can help to conserve rare and threatened species”, the team said in a joint announcement with the SA National Parks Board.
“Though South Africa has a very high diversity of species, many are poorly studied and bioacoustics is a useful tool to help understand their behaviour, distributions, numbers and much more,’’ Gridley added.
The year-long project is funded by US philanthropic organisation the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, which aims to “enhance national strengths in science and technology”.
In addition to sound recordings, the Kruger team included two Cape Town graffiti artists who produced giant images of African wildlife whose calls contribute to Kruger’s “soundscape”. The artworks aim to enhance staff and visitors’ sonic experience.
Last year the park played host to an international bioacoustics conference organised by Gridley and her team. Among the many research findings presented were insights into penguin vocalisation. Not only can penguins recognise their partners’ calls amid the cacophony of other familiar calls, they get quite agitated if their partner’s call unexpectedly disappears, research showed.
Other notable recent research highlighted voice-mediated social interactions among hippo and a comparison of songbird courtship with human drumming.
Last year’s conference also drew attention to international efforts to protect whales from the harmful impacts of human activity in the oceans, where noise pollution is a growing concern, particularly in relation to oil and gas exploration.
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