Over time, in some urban areas, spiders have gotten bigger, salmon have gotten smaller, and birds have changed their songs in order to find their mates.
Comparing calls from 13 males recorded before and after a territory switch, researchers found that 12 males changed their songs significantly.
And they changed their songs depending on context, using more lyrebird-specific "whistle" calls when out foraging and vying for territory, but more mimicking calls when defending their nests (as in the audio file below).
They change their song as a group, each ocean's population sings a consistent song, and in neighboring oceans, you'll here a different song.
If social interactions have an effect on repertoire composition during adulthood, (as previously suggested [17], [18]), great tits should almost permanently change their song types, since confrontations and territorial interactions take place almost daily during the reproductive period in this species.
Role-reversed males of the tettigoniid, Metaballus litus, produce a different type of song than typical males, and males from typical conditions facultatively change their song type when transferred to role-reversed sites [ 26].
Others still might change their songs in response to their environment or neighbors.
"Bowhead whales are unique among all other whales in that they change their songs within and between years," Stafford told BBC Earth.
The results, which will be published online tomorrow in Biology Letters, show the birds change their songs as needed to beat the noise.
The highlight was Hirst's revelation that the Bulldogs have changed their bawdy victory song to become gender neutral, and that Elton John called him after Hirst came out, "which was random".
