Horses whinny by making sounds in a unique way that is not seen in other animals
Jackie Flynn Mogensen
How horses whinny has long been a mystery. The sound is quite distinct from any other in the animal kingdom. And now scientists think they’ve discovered why: horses whinny by producing sounds at two frequencies at the same time—much like singing and whistling simultaneously.
The findings, which were published on Monday in Current Biology, suggest horses produce sounds at two frequencies in two distinct ways in their larynx, or voice box. A low-frequency sound of about 200 hertz is produced by...