Giraffe bull Max (10) is supposed to help scientists to understand the sounds of his conspecifics Photo: Olaf Wagner
By Katja Colmenares
This is not a crash helmet, nor is it an aviator hat. With this extravagant headdress, giraffe bull Max (10) from Zoo Berlin spent a week on science!
Giraffe bull Max in Masked Singer mission!
With this strap-on mini audio device, the Berlin long-neck should help the researchers to better understand it and its conspecifics. “The scientists hope to use the recorded noises and sounds to find out how giraffes talk to each other. Because no researcher in the world has ever found that out,” said zoo spokeswoman Philine Hachmeister to BZ
The fact that giraffes make noises at all is still a recent scientific finding. The Austrian giraffe researcher Anton Baotic discovered this in Berlin!
This mini audio device records the sounds giraffes make Photo: Olaf Wagner
He made the first sound recordings of giraffe sounds in Tierpark Berlin. Until then, giraffes were thought to communicate via infrasound (which humans cannot hear). They can snort, snort, roar and even buzz.
But no one knows when and, above all, why giraffes make these vocalizations. Rothschild giraffe bull Max is now supposed to spill the secret.
The role as a research assistant is not entirely new for Max. The team from the giraffe house had patiently trained him to wear a head halter over the past few years. After ten months, Max had the belt around his head – at a height of 5.50 meters! – accepted.
Hachmeister: “Among giraffe researchers, Max is even considered the best trained giraffe in Europe!“
