Embryos of many species use sound to prepare for the outside world

As we all know, reptiles rely on temperature in their eggs to determine the sex of their larvae

"Acoustic developmental programming occurs when sound informs the embryo of the environment it will encounter after birth, and changes its development to better adapt to this environment, said Mylene Mariette (@MyleneMariette) of Deakin University in Australia

Because this is a newly discovered phenomenon, the evidence has just begun to accumulate

"We have found evidence of this phenomenon in birds.

Mariette became interested in acoustic developmental programming, and at the same time studied how zebra finch parents coordinate their parents’ caring duties through the phone.

"I became very curious about how hearing sounds change development before hatching," Mariette said

She began to look for evidence in the literature on the use of sound in other animal embryos

"In crickets, when the developing nymphs hear many sexy songs, the females will develop quickly to make the most of the opportunities, while the males will delay the metamorphosis, make it bigger, and invest more money in reproduction.

"This is because sound directly affects behavior and physiology, without any conscious processing," she continued, which is why, for example, concerts trigger spontaneous emotions of sadness or happiness without us having to remember the original soundtrack of that movie, or In fact, we didn't even notice our reaction to music

The bottom line is that the impact of sound on development is far more profound than people realize

Mariette's laboratory continues to study the physiological characteristics of zebra finches, which may be affected by heat calls

Journal Reference :

1. Mylene M.