![]() “The interesting thing about the pink river dolphins is they then go into the forest to hunt, which is wide open. It is one of the largest migrations of fish in the world. And with that, pink river dolphins want to go in there, and it’s a great time to go in pods and maybe with their young and slurp up these catfish eggs or other types of fish. So what that means is: there’s migratory catfish coming all the way from the mouth of the Amazon-all the way up to this interface with the Andes and where the upper Amazon drops-and then they’re laying their eggs there. ![]() And the Amazon river is rising, then, from the runoff from the Andes. There’s a lull in it, so it’s coming up. This event is recorded the same time of year that Jeff and I are having a conversation in October/November. “So this is about 140 kilometers upriver, on the main stem of the Amazon in a side tributary. I guess you had a hard time actually finding them, right Tim? The pink river dolphin is now endangered. Now let’s talk about some of that research, specifically, into the pink river dolphin. So we're using all those tools in our research.” We’re using hydrophones underwater and just standard stereo microphones that we can deploy and then also some that we can schedule and leave out there for up to a month and go back and get them and bring them back in and then analyze the soundscapes and the communication going on with artificial intelligence. “And the tools that we use are everything from recording in three-dimensional sound with new innovative multiple microphone devices so we can record somewhat three-dimensionally with microphone arrays. And so we’re looking at everything from the resonances of forests-so how does a forest that has been cut sound? And how does sound reflected into a native forest that still has its native, somewhat intact, primary forest-communication between species. So bioacoustics is a big piece of it, as well as the resonance of the forest-how things reflect. And with recording technology, there’s amazing ways to look at this. It’s a newer area, in terms of looking at an exchange of information in ecologies and diversity. “One way of looking at ecological stability, or what’s happening in the dynamics of ecologies, is by looking at the sound of spaces, or the acoustic ecology. Tim, could we start out by talking a little bit about what you do? Tell us about soundscape ecology. We’re going to be listening to some far-reaching soundscape ecologies today from research that I’ve been conducting off of the main stem of the Amazon on the Peruvian border with Brazil.” ![]() Tim is a professor of emergent digital practices and a multimedia and sound artist at the University of Denver. Our guide for this audio trip is Tim Weaver. Think of it as a soundscape turned into a sound escape. We will eavesdrop on some incredible creatures in the world’s largest rain forest. Today we’re going to do something completely different: We’re going to offer you a break in the pandemic and politics by taking you on a three-part sound journey to the Amazon. ![]() This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. ![]()
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