Scientists Recreated Chirps of Jurassic Insects, Simulating a 165 Million-yo Soundscape (Listen)
Biologists have used AI-assisted analysis of well-preserved fossils to recreate the mating calls of Jurassic-era insects. This study provides the oldest evidence of sound ever reproduced, offering insights into the acoustic landscape of the Middle Jurassic period.
Why it matters
This research bridges the gap between paleontology and modern technology, allowing scientists to reconstruct ancient ecosystems in unprecedented detail.
It wasn’t just the roars of the dinosaurs that made up the soundscape of the animal world during the Jurassic period.
Crickets and grasshoppers communicated through a variety of songs and high-pitched sounds, some of which you can now listen to thanks to Thorin Jonsson from the Institute of Biology at the University of Graz.
Together with his colleagues from the universities of Lincoln, Bristol (UK), Beijing (China), and Tempe (USA) their findings on what are so far the oldest traces of sound on Earth have just been published in the journal PNAS.
Insects from the order Orthoptera, such as crickets and grasshoppers, rub wing structures against one another or against their legs to produce sounds called “stridulations.” Pitch and rhythm depend on the number and spacing of the teeth on the wing’s ridge, as well as the shape and movement of the wings.
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