AN UNNERVING video of a bird mimicking the cry of a human baby has been revealed by an Australian Zoo.
The creature is called a ‘superb lyrebird’, an animal known for its ability to accurately mimic the sounds of its surroundings.
Bet you weren't expecting this wake-up call! You're not hearing things, our resident lyrebird Echo has the AMAZING ability to replicate a variety of calls – including a baby's cry!
via keeper Sam #forthewild #tarongatv #animalantics pic.twitter.com/RyU4XpABos
— Taronga Zoo (@tarongazoo) August 30, 2021
Taronga Zoo in Sydney tweeted the bizarre video.
It captioned it: “Bet you weren’t expecting this wake-up call!
“You’re not hearing things, our resident lyrebird Echo has the AMAZING ability to replicate a variety of calls – including a baby’s cry!”
Echo is a seven-year-old superb lyrebird.
According to The Guardian, Echo first started crying like a human baby a year ago.
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Taronga’s unit supervisor of birds, Leanne Golebiowski, told the publication: “I can only assume that he picked it up from our guests. Obviously he has been working on his craft during lockdown.
“There are two other sounds that he makes at the moment which he has newly learned.
“One is the sound of a power drill which is scarily accurate – the second is our fire alarm. He even has the ‘evacuate now’ announcement down pat.”
Despite its amazing singing abilites, the vocal organ of the songbird is said to be pretty simple compared to other birds.
It only has three pairs of muscles in its syrinx, the vocal organ in birds, instead of four.
The birds sing year round but males sing more in the winter breeding season.
This suggests the singing is associated with finding a suitable mate.
Some of the females mimic the sounds of predators and could use their vocal abilities for defence.
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