To twist the eardrums and make the heart beat? It is for love that the white araponga, designated Monday the world's noisiest bird, resonates his song in the depths of the Amazon.
"He sings the first note, turned outward, then he does a dramatic, almost theatrical rotation (...) expelling a second note in the direction of his contender," said biologist Jeff Podos of Amherst University in the state of Massachusetts, co-author of a study on this carillonneur, published Monday in the journal Current Biology .
The sounds that emanate from this small animal - 250 grams and the size of a dove - are so deafening that the researchers wondered how his suitors could listen without hearing damage.
Up to 113 decibels
These sounds can reach up to 113 decibels, the equivalent of a loud rock concert, a level deemed at risk for humans. The biologist was lucky enough to observe females, green in color, joining the male during his noisy serenade. "We do not know how such small animals get so noisy," says Jeff Podos, who used high quality sound recorders and filmed the bird in high resolution to try to understand the phenomenon.
The researchers found that the louder his call became, the shorter he was because of his limited breathing abilities. This anatomical feature should, according to them, prevent the bird from beating indefinitely acoustic records.