Give Now  »

Noon Edition

Distracted From Survival

Read Transcript
Hide Transcript

Transcript

D: Yaël, humans are harming the natural world in pretty obvious ways, such as dumping wastes into the air and water, but could there be ways we are harming other species that are harder to recognize?

Y: Scientists are discovering that there are. Noise pollution is an example. Noise from human activities can disrupt animal behavior, in ways that might put a species at risk of extinction.

D: Do you mean something such as the way too much noise can distract a student from studying and cause them to fail a crucial exam?

Y: Yes. For an animal, attention to sensory cues can be vital to survival. For example, finding the feces of a predator is a warning that the predator itself might still be nearby.

D: Could the sounds of human civilization really distract the animal from a cue that is detected by senses other than hearing?

Y: A team of British scientists showed that they can. The researchers studied the dwarf mongoose, a small African mammal that lives in extended family groups. They put the feces of either a dangerous carnivore, or a harmless herbivore near a mongoose family's burrow. When the animals spotted predator poop they became cautious and vigilant and stayed close to home.

D: Next the researchers would need to introduce some human noise and see what happened.

Y: That's right. The scientists put speakers near the animals' burrow, and played either natural sounds or traffic noise. When they played road noise, animals were slower to spot predator poop, and showed less of an increase in caution and vigilance, than when they played familiar natural sounds. If the poop had actually been left by a predator, this could have been a deadly mistake.
Noise Pollution Sign

Noise from humans can impact more than just what an animal hears. (Carol Lin/flickr)

Humans are harming the natural world in pretty obvious ways, such as dumping wastes into the air and water, but could there be ways we are harming other species that are harder to recognize?

Scientists are discovering that there are. Noise pollution is an example. Noise from human activities can disrupt animal behavior, in ways that might put a species at risk of extinction.

For an animal, attention to sensory cues can be vital to survival. For example, finding the feces of a predator is a warning that the predator itself might still be nearby. Do the sounds of human civilization really distract the animal from a cue that is detected by senses other than hearing?

A team of British scientists showed that they can. The researchers studied the dwarf mongoose, a small African mammal that lives in extended family groups.  They put the feces of either a dangerous carnivore, or a harmless herbivore near a mongoose family's burrow. When the animals spotted predator poop they became cautious and vigilant and stayed close to home.

Next, the scientists put speakers near the animals' burrow and played either natural sounds or traffic noise.  When they played road noise, animals were slower to spot predator poop, and showed less of an increase in caution and vigilance, than when they played familiar natural sounds. If the poop had actually been left by a predator, this could have been a deadly mistake.

Reviewer: Wouter Halfwerk, The University of Amsterdam

Read More

Sources

Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From

About A Moment of Science