Listen to giraffes humming to each other through the night

 Until recently, there was reason to believe that giraffes were largely silent creatures. After all, we've heard dogs bark, lions roar, and pigs oink, but aside from the occasional snort, giraffes had never had sound ascribed to them — until now.

 


A new study from the University of Vienna has revealed that giraffes actually hum to each other through the night.
After reviewing almost 1,000 hours of sound recordings from three European zoos, Dr. Angela Stöger picked up on an unusual humming sound coming from the giraffe enclosures at all three of the zoos at night.
Giraffes have been thought to be relatively quiet animals because of how physically difficult it is for sound to travel up their long necks. While some have suggested that giraffes may make noise in infrasonic sounds that are too low for humans ears, the humming that Dr. Stöger picked up were just high enough for humans to hear.
“I was fascinated, because these signals have a very interesting sound and have a complex acoustic structure," she told New Scientist.
You can listen for yourself, thanks to a recording courtesy of New Scientist:
The giraffes hum at a frequency of about 92 Hz, which is low in comparison to other animals.

Giraffe sounds in relation to other animals.

Image: University of Vienna University of Vienna

When the team of researches played their recordings to zoo managers, they were surprised: They hadn't heard the noises before. Then again, they probably aren't hanging around giraffe enclosures in the middle of the night.
However, Dr. Stöger and her colleagues weren't able to observe the giraffes as they hummed, so it's not certain what they were doing as they hummed — possibilities range from snoring to mating to trying to communicate with each other.
“It could be passively produced -– like snoring –- or produced during a dream-like state -– like humans talking or dogs barking in their sleep,” Meredith Bashaw, an animal behavior researched told New Scientist. It could also be a way for the giraffes to signal to each other, "Hey, I'm here," she added.
John Doherty at Queen’s University Belfast thinks he might have an answer: “I have once come across audible vocalization reminiscent of [the] recordings, again in a captive giraffe."
“But, in this case, [the giraffe] was clearly disturbed by a husbandry procedure being carried out on its calf in a separate but visible enclosure.”
His reasoning, however, doesn't explain why the same kind of humming was heard at three different zoos.
We might not know what giraffes are doing or saying while they're nocturnally humming, but it's nice to imagine that when all the zookeepers have gone home for the night, the animals are talking.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
By Kimberly Truong

Topics: audio, Giraffes, Watercooler