Meet the white bellbird, which has just beaten out its rainforest neighbor, the screaming piha, for the title of the world’s loudest bird. The researchers wrote that its calls are so loud, they wondered how white bellbird females listen at close range without damaging their hearing. Podos told AFP he was lucky enough to witness females join males on their perches as they sang. “Maybe they are trying to assess males up close, though at the risk of some damage to their hearing systems,” Podos added. This, they said, would place a natural anatomical limit on how loud the bird could evolve to become through sexual selection, or selection for traits that are advantageous for reproduction.

Source: New Strait Times October 21, 2019 18:11 UTC