Birds mimic ringtones
German ornithologists claim that some birds are now singing the songs of cell phone ringtones. Richard Schneider of the NABU bird conservation center near Tuebingen says that jackdaws, starlings, and jays are the best mimics. Still, the birds apparently can’t copy more complex polyphonic ringtones. From Deutsche Presse-Agenture:
One reason for the phenomenon was that these birds were increasingly common in the urban environment, even the relatively shy jay, (Schneider) said. “There is food and an increasing amount of green space in modern cities.”
The birds were simply adapting to their environment in imitating human sounds in what he termed an “evolutionary playground.”
