Step aside One Direction and Backstreet Boys: scientists have found that mice know how to sing in harmony — and they do it to impress females.
Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina and Tulane University in New Orleans found that, when male mice were caged together with a female, they gradually changed the pitch of their squeaks to "sing" in harmony with each other.
The scientists also discovered that when the mice sing, their brains are activated in a way that was previously thought impossible.
The study conflicts with the earlier scientific assumption that mice could not shift their pitch as bats, whales, parrots, elephants, songbirds and other animals — including humans — can.
But before you start listening for sweet harmonies emanating from your walls and cupboards, note that the mice's "harmonies" are ultrasonic, so not discernible by the human ear.
No word yet on whether the mice have been observed working on their dance routines.
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