As We Know, Humans are Superior to Other Animals in Every Way.

[FYI. For Your Interest.]

PARIS: One of the world's smallest primates, the Philippine tarsier, communicates in a range of ultrasound inaudible to predator and prey alike, according to a study published in the British Royal Society's Biology Letters.

No bigger than a man's hand, Tarsius syrichta can hear and emit sounds at a frequency that effectively gives it a private channel for issuing warnings or ferreting out crickets for a night-time snack.

Only a handful of mammals are known to be able to send and receive vocal signals in the ultrasound range, above 20 kilohertz (kHz), including some whales, domestic cats and a few of the many species of bats.

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And few of these can squeal, screech or squawk at the same sonic altitudes as the saucer-eyed tarsier, which up to now had been mistakenly described as being ''ordinarily silent,'' researchers found.

Its finely tuned ears are capable of picking up frequencies above 90 kHz, and it can vocalise in a range around 70 kHz.

By comparison, humans generally can't hear anything above 20 kHz, and a dog whistle is pitched to between 22 and 23 kHz.

Scientists from the US and the Philippines, led by Marissa Ramsier of Humboldt State University in California, found ''the minimum frequency of the call - 67 kHz - is the highest value of any terrestrial mammal, excluding bats and some rodents''.

After the experiments, the rare and endangered animals were returned unharmed to their natural habitat, on the Philippine island of Mindanao.

To measure the frequency of the tarsier's ultrasound chatter, the researchers recorded another 35 specimens in the wild.

The researchers suggest there are several advantages to the tarsier's high-end vocal acrobatics. One is being able to sound a silent alarm.

''Ultrasonic calls can be advantageous to both the signaller and receiver as they are potentially difficult for predators to detect and localise,'' the researchers explained.

The tarsier's exceptional hearing may also facilitate acoustic eavesdropping on noises emitted by prey, which range from crickets and cockroaches - their staple diet - to the occasional moth, katydid or hatchling bird.

Finally, the study speculates, being able to communicate in ultrasonic ranges filters out all the low-frequency ''noise'' and hubbub of a tropical environment.

Lacking the typical ''night vision'' of other nocturnal creatures, tarsiers also have - in relation to their body size - the largest eyes of any primate on earth.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/sound-of-silence-tin...

[Carolyn Bailey]

Other animals are amazing in so many ways, and on multiple levels! 

Tarsiers are wonderful, and their eyes are just adorable. 

Thanks for sharing the story, it's interesting to note how insignificant humans can appear, relative to other animals.