Baby crocodiles start chatting with siblings and mothers before they hatch

French researchers have found baby crocodiles start to chat even before they hatch. They make these sounds to make their siblings hatch together and get protection from their mothers as they hatch.

Amelie Vergne and Nicolas Mathevon of Universite Jean Monnet in Saint-Etienne, France analyzed 10 crocodiles and their eggs at a zoo in France.

The researchers found that little crocodiles inside the eggs make an "umph! umph! umph!" sound right before they hatch. When the siblings and mothers hear this, the siblings also make these sounds and try to break free from the eggs and the mothers approach the eggs to take care of the new born.

The researchers recorded the sounds and played back these sounds and other sounds to see what the reaction was. They found that the baby crocodiles and the mothers respond well to the "umph!" sounds.

You can listen to the audio recording (mp3) here.

Vergne and Mathevon wrote in the journal Current Biology:

"Crocodile mothers react strongly to playback of pre-hatching calls, most of them by digging the sand,"

In another experiment, they removed the eggs from the nest and played back the sounds, the mother crocodile continue to guard the nest in anticipation.

Eight of the mother crocodiles who were played recordings of the correct "umph" calls tried to dig up their nest, while mothers who heard random sounds did not react to the sounds.

Mathevon explained the reason for the sounds made by the baby crocodile. As soon as they hatch, they become a prey to predators. As a defensive mechanism, the crocodiles make the sounds and try to hatch together at the same time and make their mother to stay near by to protect them.

In a statement, Mathevon said:

"In this sense, it is important for all embryos in the nest to be ready for hatching at the same time so that they all receive adult care and protection,"

The babies get smart even before they hatch. I hope they don't get too smart when they grow up.