SSS 2012-02-15

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The sounds many animals make are determined¹ by their genes—they don't have to learn them. Humans, on the other hand, have all sorts of languages and accents, stuff we pick up from those around us. We're not alone. Whales, elephants, songbirds and bats also listen and learn.

 

Now there's literally² a new kid on the block: goats. Because baby goats learn to bleat³ just like the kids they hang out with. So finds a study in the journal Animal Behaviour.

 

Researchers studied four groups of pygmy goat kids on an English farm—all with the same father, to minimize genetic⁴ differences. They recorded the kids' bleats⁵ at one week old and at five weeks, then analyzed⁶ those calls. And they found that kids raised within the same group started to sound similar over time, like this: 

 

[two goat sounds] 

 

or this 

 

[two other goat sounds]. 

 

Compare that to these two kids, who grew up apart:Hear the difference?

 

If you were a goat, the authors say, those different 'accents' might be a good way to identify outsiders. Then again, if you had trouble keeping track of who's who, don't let it get your goat. I kid!

 

Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American 60 second science, i am Christopher Intagliata

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