Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if the Japanese quail, a domesticated, gallinaceous bird, could detect infrasound. Behavioral thresholds were determined for three birds, two males and one female, ranging from 16 Hz to 8 kHz. The animals’ hearing range, at a cutoff of 60 dB SPL (re 20 μN/m2), covers 6.88 octaves, ranging from 59.5 Hz to 7 kHz. All animals had the greatest sensitivity to 2 kHz, with an average threshold of 4.4 dB SPL. Although the birds’ threshold at 16 Hz was equivalent to that of humans, at no frequency did the birds’ sensitivity ever exceed that of humans. Therefore, the Japanese quail does not hear infrasound.
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Acknowledgements
Funding for the animals, equipment, and student workers were provided by the University of Nebraska-Kearney Undergraduate Research Fellows Program. Additionally, we thank Henry Heffner for his comments and suggestions on an early draft of this manuscript.
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All animals were cared for following the Guide for the Care and Use of Animals. All procedures were conducted in accordance with Animal Care Protocol #041116, which was approved by the by the University of Nebraska-Kearney Animal Care and Use Committee.
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Strawn, S.N., Hill, E.M. Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) audiogram from 16 Hz to 8 kHz. J Comp Physiol A 206, 665–670 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01428-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-020-01428-4