'Parabolic' antlers help moose hear sweet nothings

Canwest News Service

Published: 2:33 am
Canadian scientists using the trophy rack from a large male moose for a series of acoustic experiments have discovered that the beast's antlers act like natural hearing aids, bouncing sounds -- including sweet talk from a potential mate -- toward its ears.

The finding, detailed in the latest issue of the European Journal of Wildlife Research, helps explain the moose's "excellent sense of hearing" -- a phenomenon variously attributed to its large ears, their placement on the animal's head and their unusual shape and flexibility, the study states.

The mammal's massive, branching antlers appear to serve as "a parabolic reflector of sounds" and "aid in moose communication," conclude University of Guelph biologist George Bubenik and his son Peter Bubenik, a mathematician at Cleveland State University.


The researchers were testing a theory first advanced decades ago by George's father, the late Anthony Bubenik, who was also a University of Guelph zoologist and renowned moose expert.

Using artificial ears equipped with sound meters -- created by technicians from Japan's NHK television network -- the researchers sent audio signals toward the 18-kilogram, 1.38-metre-wide antlers during experiments conducted at the Ontario university's arboretum. The tests showed that sound reception improved by up to 20 per cent because of the antlers.

Among antlered animals, the researchers note, "only in the moose do females have a richer repertoire of vocalization than males. This indicates the importance of vocal communication in this species, whose individuals must find each other in the vast spaces of the tundra or taiga."

© The Edmonton Journal 2008

Very interesting. I have a theory that moose use infrasound like elephants do. I think the gutteral sound a bull makes must carry a very long ways indeed. The antler thingy never occured to me though.

the chef

Conversely, I guess that's why we human men have such tiny ears. Our females have a far too large repetoire of vocalizations.

The parabola thing would make more sense if their ears were in front of, rather than behind, the antlers, unless maybe the opposite ears are doing the long range reception?