To find potential female mates, male rock Hyraxes show a skilled and sweet special talent: singing. Research reveals that Hyraxes' ability to keep to beat during courtship is linked to reproductive success.
What are hyraxes? According to the African Wildlife Foundation website (AWF), hyraxes is also recognized as rock rabbit, which is a small mammal. The AWF's website identified Hyraxes as a robust, oversized-looking guinea pig. They are active in the morning and like sunning themselves at their shelter's entrance.
AWF added that there are three species of Hyrax that look almost the same: two are rock or busy hyrax, and the third is a tree hyrax. In East Africa, rock hyrax has the most number.
Moreover, Dr. Vlad Demartsev said their team has been studying hyraxes for the past 20 years. They discovered patterns in hyraxes songs that seem to be common features of music and human language, according to a press news release published on EurekaAlert and Phys Org on September 13, 2022.
The report added that Demartsev is a postdoctoral doctor researcher at the Department of Biology at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.
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Rock hyraxes, according to the AWF, have a short-feeding diet. They quickly eat with their family group, cautiously looking into their surroundings for predators or threats. Hyraxes can also live for a long time without water.
The role of rhythm in singing hyrax
Rhythm is how animals coordinate with one another, from individuality to group. Some male animals, like Hyrax, sing to find a mating partner.
According to the press release, Dr. Demartsev said that rhythm plays a crucial role in animals' communication, and it is like a band synchronizing their songs.
The report also explained that the male rock hyraxes sing alone. The reason being is to avoid animal competition for their partners.
Furthermore, the research findings revealed that hyraxes maintain a stable isochronous rhythm. The sounds occur at regular intervals. Moreover, the way hyraxes sing has a regional dialect, meaning hyraxes around them have similarities in singing to each other.
To further understand the singing patterns of hyraxes, researchers looked into the role of rhythm in mammal courtship. From 2002 to 2013, scientists monitored the daily morning activity of hyraxes in Ein Gedi Natural Reserve, located in eastern Israel.
In their investigation, they unveiled important information about the animal.
Male hyraxes said to sing frequently could lead to more surviving offspring, individual quality, and reproductive success, according to Dr. Lee Koren, co-founder of the hyrax study with Dr. Eli Geffen and researcher at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University.
Challenges
However, the AWF said that the challenge faced by Hyrax today is humans encroaching on their habitats. It explained that as the human population grows, it threatens animal habits as they move into wildlife spaces.
To know more about Hyraxes, visit the website of the African Wildlife Foundation.
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