Embryonic Eavesdropping: How Animals Hear and Respond to Sound

Recent findings buck the traditional idea that embryos are passive agents and instead suggest that by tuning into vibrations, organisms can better prepare to enter the outside world.

amanda heidt
| 11 min read
Conceptual image of an embryo with sound waves

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Birds have a rich vocal repertoire that they use to communicate with their peers, but behavioral ecologist Mylene Mariette is more interested in the calls they make when they are seemingly alone.

While working as a researcher at Deakin University in Australia, Mariette had planted microphones in the nests of captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to study how male-female pairs coordinate their parenting efforts. One day in 2014, she noticed that “sometimes one parent would produce a very different call when it was incubating by itself,” Mariette recalls, which led her to wonder “whether it was communicating with the embryos, because they were the only audience there.”

We know a lot about what happens before the eggs are laid and when they hatch, but in the middle, there's actually not a lot known.

The cry she overheard—a form of vocal ...

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Meet the Author

  • amanda heidt

    Amanda Heidt

    Amanda was an associate editor at The Scientist, where she oversaw the Scientist to Watch, Foundations, and Short Lit columns. When not editing, she produced original reporting for the magazine and website. Amanda has a master's in marine science from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and a master's in science communication from UC Santa Cruz.

Published In

November cover of The Scientist
November 2021

Embryonic Eavesdropping

Animals start listening even before they enter the world

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