Close Listening: Decoding Nature Through Sound Biologists seeking to understand how animals communicate have created a culture of listening.
Humpback whale and calf, off the Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico. Reinhard Dirscherl/Look-foto/Corbis hide caption
It Took A Musician's Ear To Decode The Complex Song In Whale Calls
A group of rowers meet at daybreak on Forge Pond in Westford, Mass. Courtesy of Marc Cajolet hide caption
The view at daybreak in Bosque del Apache, N.M. John Fowler/Flickr hide caption
Squirrels closely mimic bird warning calls and help spread the alarm through the forest that hawks, owls or other predators are nearby. iStockphoto hide caption
Male treehoppers make their abdomens thrum like tuning forks to transmit very particular vibrating signals that travel down their legs and along leaf stems to other bugs — male and female. Courtesy of Robert Oelman hide caption
African forest elephants stampede in the Central African Republic jungle. Courtesy of Cornell Lab or Ornithology hide caption
Humpback whales and tanker in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in Massachusetts Bay. Green Fire Productions/Flickr hide caption