#bioacoustics

#bioacoustics

New York City is home to some three million rats, and learning how these rodent residents navigate and communicate is vital to understanding their impact on humans. A new preprint shows attempts to compare observations of brown rats in the city to the behaviors described in scientific literature more broadly. Studying rats in three locationscity parks, sidewalks, and the subwaythe team found that NYC rats are incredibly adaptable, changing their vocalizations based on different ambient backdrops.

The scientist traipses to a pond wearing rubber boots but he doesn't enter the water. Instead, Brad Hollingsworth squats next to its swampy edge and retrieves a recording device the size of a deck of cards. He then opens it up and removes a tiny memory card containing 18 hours of sound. Back at his office at the San Diego Natural History Museum, the herpetologist an expert in reptiles and amphibians uses artificial intelligence to analyze the data on the card.