Who knew that baby crocodiles are such tender little creatures? According to researchers, they start crying out for their mothers before they’ve even cracked their shells and poked their long noses out into the world: The little crocs make an “umph! umph! umph!” sound right before they hatch [Reuters]. Now a study has shown that the noises they make from within their shells aren’t just idle chatter, but instead play an important role in the hatching.
A team of French researchers studied Nile crocodiles, and found that the calls prompted mother crocodiles to dig the eggs out of the dirt. The cries also seemed to alert all the babies inside their shells that it was time to hatch, leading to a neatly synchronized hatching that could have an evolutionary benefit, researchers say.
