Male Birds Sounded Sexier To Females In COVID-19 Lockdown, Says Study

The COVID-19 induced lockdown across most regions of the world left the urban landscape barren for other species to roam, making them alter their behaviour to adapt.

Adding to this, a new study focused in San Francisco says that the city¡¯s male birds began singing better and "sexier" for their female counterparts during the lockdown.

(Representative Image: Reuters)

A new study published in journal Science, found that white-crowned sparrows in San Francisco "sang more softly when noise levels were lower¡± during the shutdown. The aim of the study was to get valuable insights in how human behavior affects animal behavior. And as per its findings, it succeeded in doing so.

Through the observation of the birds in the city during lockdown, the study managed to point out that ¡°prevailing theories of animal communication¡± are not enough to understand the above goal. In this case, they do not capture ¡°the potential magnitude of vocal responses to noise abatement.¡±

Melodious birds

During lockdown, the study found that in addition to singing more softly, the male birds were also improving their vocal range. With traffic in the city shut, there was no ambient noise to drown their voices. Hence, their voices could be heard till larger distances than before.

The study points out that the doubling in communication distance allowed the birds to increase their territory, ¡°thus reducing territorial conflicts and increasing mating potential.¡± Overtime, this can potentially lead to an overall increase in fitness of the species.

White-crowned sparrow (Image: Dave Strauss/ dscomposition.com)

As for the other advantage, the birds were recorded singing in a lower amplitude than before. The huge drop in city noise allowed the male birds to sing at a softer pitch. As a result, their songs "sounded better, they sounded sexier," said Elizabeth Derryberry, lead author of the study, in an interaction with AFP.

The scientists found that the volume of the songs by these birds had dropped by almost a third. "They were better competitors, and they sounded like better mates to females," Derryberry added.

A similar study recently highlighted that a smarter, more aggressive breed of rats might emerge out of the COVID-19 pandemic all over the world. The research mentioned that the shutdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic has left the rats with no food from their regular source. Just another impact of humans on animal behaviour found during the lockdown.