世界上声音比较大的鸟比摩托车还响

世界上声音最大的鸟比摩托车还响

When the male white bellbird wants to impress a potential mate, he sings sweet nothings to attract her attention. Only in the case of this bright, dove-sized bird, his songs are ear-piercing shrieks that rival a chainsaw or a crash of thunder.

当雄性白色风铃鸟想要给潜在的伴侣留下深刻印象时，他会唱一些甜言蜜语来吸引她的注意。在这种情况下，这种明亮的，鸽子大小的鸟，他的歌曲是刺耳的尖叫，可以形容成电锯或轰鸣。

The dove-sized male white bellbird makes ear-piercing calls to attract a mate. (Photo: Anselmo d'Affonseca/Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia)

Researchers recently documented the call of this Amazon crooner and found the song of the male white bellbird (Procnias albus) averages 116 decibels. It can get as loud as 125.4 decibels. By comparison, a motorcycle or jackhammer is about 100 decibels and a chainsaw or thunderclap is about 120 decibels.

研究人员最近记录了这位亚马逊歌手的叫声，发现雄性白色风铃鸟 (Procnias albus)的歌声平均为116分贝。它还可以达到125.4分贝。相比之下，一辆摩托车或手提钻的噪音约为100分贝，而电锯或雷击的噪音约为120分贝。

Not surprisingly, the calls can be heard for miles to attract potential mates. But they are not only singing for females who might be far away. They also belt their ballads for females who are incredibly close by, even turning their heads in order to blast their deafening songs right at their intended paramours.

毫不奇怪，为了吸引潜在的配偶，这种叫声几英里外都能听到。但它们不只是为可能离得很远的雌性歌唱。他们还会为离自己非常近的女性传唱情歌，甚至会转过头来对着自己的情人发出震耳欲聋的歌声。

"We were lucky enough to see females join males on their display perches," says study lead author Jeff Podos, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in a statement.

该研究的主要作者、马萨诸塞大学阿姆赫斯特分校的生物学家杰夫•波多斯在一份声明中说:“我们很幸运地看到雌性和雄性一起出现在展示栖木上。”

"In these cases, we saw that the males sing only their loudest songs. Not only that, they swivel dramatically during these songs, so as to blast the song's final note directly at the females. We would love to know why females willingly stay so close to males as they sing so loudly. Maybe they are trying to assess males up close, though at the risk of some damage to their hearing systems."

“在这些情况下，我们看到雄性只唱他们最大声的歌。不仅如此，它们在唱歌时还会剧烈地旋转，从而将歌曲的最后一个音符直接吹向雌鸟。我们很想知道为什么当雄性唱歌这么大声时，雌性会心甘情愿地和它们保持如此亲密的关系。也许它们试图近距离地评估雄性，尽管有听力系统受损的风险。”

The white bellbird is about three times as loud as the the next loudest bird, the screaming piha. Interestingly, with volume comes some performance constraints. As the bird gets louder, the song gets shorter. Researchers say this is likely because the bird's respiratory system has a limit to its ability to control airflow and generate sound.

白色的风铃鸟的声音是排名第二的鸟——是尖叫鸟piha的三倍。有趣的是，体积带来了一些性能限制。鸟儿的叫声越响，歌声就越短。研究人员说，这可能是因为这种鸟的呼吸系统控制气流和发出声音的能力有限。

But this new research helps explain earlier studies which found the bird has unusually thick, well-developed abdominal muscles and ribs. The better to serenade females very loudly, apparently.

但这项新研究有助于解释先前的研究，即发现这种鸟有异常发达的腹部肌肉和肋骨。显然是为了更好地大声为女性唱小夜曲。

Podos says the findings, which were published in the journal Current Biology, are just the beginning, as they work to understand the other physical traits that allow such intense volume.

波多斯说，发表在《当代生物学》】杂志上的这些发现只是一个开始，因为他们正在努力了解其他身体特征，这些特征允许如此巨大的体积。

"We don't know how small animals manage to get so loud," he says. "We are truly at the early stages of understanding this biodiversity."

“我们不知道小动物是怎么发出这么大的声音的，”他说。“我们确实还处在了解这种生物早期阶段。”