The Rats Are Able to Sing Like a Bird

A team of researchers from the University of Osaka have created a different animal in Evolved Mouse Project.  The scientists have successfully created a mouse that is able to sing like a bird. They used mice that have children are genetically engineered and potentially mutate. "Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have made crosses of genetically engineered mice for several generations to see what would happen next," said lead researcher, Arikuni Uchimura.

"We examine the new-born rats one by one. One day we found a mouse that sings like a bird," he said. Uchimura confirm if the rats 'singing' was born after genetic engineering and the character will be forwarded to them in future generations. The scientists claim to be surprised with this result, they expect the birth of mice that differ in physical form.

Research center headed by Takeshi Yagi, professor at the University of Osaka, claimed to have had more than 100 'mice sing' which will be empowered to further research. The research team hopes they can get clues about how human language evolved so that they can understand the origin of human language.

The scientists also found that the bird was using a different sound elements, just like human languages vary with the particular linguistic rules. "For the study, subjects are better than mice because they are mammals, birds and closer to humans, related to the structure of the brain and other biological aspects," Uchimura said.

"We see how the new mouse that emit sound will affect the normal mice in the same category. In other words if it has a social connotation," he said, adding that ordinary mice squeak because of stress.