Are Man-Made Noises Interfering with Wildlife Communications?

A recent article in Wired Magazine looks into how man-made noises are gradually infiltrating the wild spaces on the Earth. You can hear some of the Earth’s most pristine soundscapes at Wildsanctuary.com. (There are is also a Google Earth download that lets you click and listen to natural locations straight from the Google map.) The main issue here is whether man-made machine noises are disturbing wildlife to the point where they can’t hear each other. Many creatures use synchronized sounds to fool predators, and when they can’t hear each other, they sing “off-beat” which makes it easier for predators to locate them. Man-made sounds thus alter the natural soundscape and ecosystem in unexpected ways. Take a look and a listen at the links above.