Monal

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Himalayan Monal

Effects of Human noise/ 2026

Prashasti.Singh, Sep 17, 2026: The Times of India

Sep 17, 2026: The Times of India

Human noise is altering how Uttarakhand’s state bird, Himalayan Monal, co­m­municates, showed a study from Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in which they compared calls recorded in relatively undisturbed Madmaheshwar Valley with those from noisier Chopta Valley. The birds in noisier habitats raised the peak frequency of their calls and tended to call for longer. While researchers suggested monals exhibited vocal flexibility to maintain communication when noise interferes, they are yet to find if this affected mating and breeding, or even long-term survival.

Details

Dehradun: Human-generated noise is altering how Uttarakhand’s state bird, the Himalayan Monal, communicates. Birds in noisier habitats raise the peak frequency of their calls and also tend to call for longer, a study by Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University (HNBGU) researchers found. The work, published in ‘Behavioural Processes’ in Aug 2025, was described by researchers as the first evidence of noise-induced vocal change in a Himalayan galliform.

The peer-reviewed study by Rajeev Lochan and Dinesh Kumar Sharma of HNBGU’s SRT Campus in Tehri Garhwal and Anand Kumar of HNBGU’s Srinagar Garhwal campus compared calls recorded in relatively undisturbed Madmaheshwar Valley with those from the noisier Chopta Valley in Kedarnath Musk Deer Sanctuary. Chopta lies close to a busy road and receives pilgrims, trekkers, tourists and birdwatchers, exposing birds there to substantially more human-generated sound.

“Our study looked at whether the same call made by a species in two different habitats changes because of noise and whether the bird develops a strategy to overcome it,” Lochan told TOI. “We found that in noisier habitats, the peak frequency rises, suggesting the birds shift their calls upwards to reduce masking by low-frequency human noise.”

Researchers collected recordings from April 2023 to June 2024, mainly during peak calling periods in the mornings and evenings, using directional microphones and AudioMoth acoustic recorders. They analysed 719 calls, with the results showing that birds in noisier habitats consistently produced higher-peak frequencies than those in natural surroundings.

The difference became particularly pronounced at the upper end of the birds’ vocal range. At the median level, peak frequency in natural habitat was around 171Hz lower than in noisy habitat, while at the highest analysed frequency band, the statistical model explained about 73.4% of variation in peak frequency, indicating that noise had its strongest influence on the upper-frequency components of calls.

The study also found a slight increase in call duration in noisy areas, suggesting that monals may use more than one strategy to maintain communication when background sound interferes. Researchers said this showed vocal flexibility, but that they had not established whether the changes affected mating success, breeding behaviour or long-term survival.

The authors said tourism and expanding human activity were adding to acoustic disturbance in Himalayan habitats and called for targeted noise-management measures in sensitive areas. They said reducing unnecessary noise around important monal habitats could help preserve communication not only for the species but also for other birds and wildlife dependent on sound.