Cock-a-doodle-do! Haven’t we heard this familiar sound by roosters at barnyards or villages? For ages, man has relied on the calling of these roosters to start his day. They worked like alarm clocks in olden days and that too with precision. Let’s look at some facts about this ‘ringtone’.
The timing of a roosters’ pre-dawn crowing is controlled by their internal body clock, called a “circadian” clock. It provides an internal sense of the local day-night cycle. So wherever they are, the cock will know it is dawn and give out the call. It is a part of the phenomenon called the ‘Dawn Choruses’, the natural burst of songs that erupts from many birds at daybreak.
Interestingly, the rooster doesn’t crow just to wake people up. It is believed that they shout out to claim charge of the territory. The chicken world also follows a hierarchy. Usually, the top ranking male makes his first crow in the morning followed by the others. The rank is decided by the physical strength of the bird which he usually assumes after regular cock fights with other roosters. If this top ranking bird is removed from the group, the second ranked rooster will step up and start crowing. Louder the sound, greater the leader. Noisy, isn’t it?
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