Singers carrying a beat in harmony have always naturally appealed humans, but it is the other way round when it comes to the Australian magpie larks. The more the duos are harmonious, more scary they are for others.
According to a new study, male birds react most aggressively to duets from pairs in tight tempo! Thus, better the synchrony in a duet, larger is the threat to other magpie larks.
The lead author of the study, Michelle Hall said,
An obvious human analogy … is a human army.
If you see an army marching and everybody’s in time, you sort of wonder about how good they’re going to be.
The researchers predict that individual magpie larks get their act together and sing in a extremely highly coordinated way to signal a commitment to each other in defending their territory!
So, it is not just that the more harmonious the Australian magpie duos are, the more it will frighten others. These harmonious duos are also important for their survival and their reproductive success.
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