Free Mating Call Ring Tones

eNature is offering mating call ringtones, recorded by some of the best naturalists and audio engineers in the world.

Included in the tones are coyotes, tree frogs, squirrels, sea lions and monkeys, just to name a few.

Apparently very few animals have a specific sound or vocalization that's exclusively used for mating. Most DO have songs or calls they use to attract the opposite sex, warn off competitors or claim a specific territory. Some calls do all three at once, others in some combination.

[via Curbly]

Spice Up Valentine's Day with Mating Call Ringtones

eNature.com has released a special collection of Valentine's Day mating call ringtones.

The free ringtones include mating calls from well known species such as the coyote, African lion and elk, as well as appealing lesser-known species such as New Jersey's Pine Barrens Treefrog and the Snowy Tree Cricket.

Each ringtone on the site is accompanied by interesting details about the animal that produces it.

Press release

Endangered Animal Ringtones reaches 100,000 free downloads

A wildlife conservation group, The Center for Biological Diversity, which has been offering free cell phone ringtones for a year now - with the sounds of any of 70 rare and endangered birds and animals - has provided 100,000 free downloads to people in 150 countries, according to center spokesman Jeff Miller. cbs5.com reports.

"The sounds can be downloaded from the center's endangered species at Rare Earthtones. Users can also download photos, cell phone wallpapers and facts about each species."

Related links to endangered species ringtones

India uses ''mooing'' Ringtones to catch Leopards

B>Forest guards in western India are using cell phones with ringtones of cows mooing, goats bleating and roosters crowing to attract leopards that have wandered into human settlements, reports I4U.

"The wild cats in the state of Gujarat often roam into villages near forests in search of food, say officials, adding that this results in attacks on people.

But rather than use methods such as live bait like goats tied to trees to lure the leopards, which then fall into large pits dug by guards, officials say they have found a safer method to trap the cats.

Vasani said forest guards have downloaded the sounds of over a dozen animals as ringtones on their mobiles which they attach to speakers and fix behind a cage.

They then play the ringtone continuously for up to two hours until the curious leopard appears and moves into the cage looking for its easy meal.

Five leopards have so far been lured from villages since the new ringtone method was introduced a month ago. The cats have all been released back into forest areas."

Endangered Species Ringtones Reach 50,000 Downloads in 50 Countries

The Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered species cell phone ringtones, available for free download at www.rareearthtones.org, have been so popular since they were unveiled on December 18th that more than 50,000 people have the endangered species calls on their cell phones.

Cell-phone users in over 50 countries have downloaded the ringtones, primarily in the United States, Britain, Italy, China, Canada and Brazil. Currently there are over 1,000 new downloads each day.

The Web site features free ringtones of the howls, croaks, chirps, songs and calls of more than 40 rare and endangered animals from around the world.

A ringtone roar of a polar bear was added today. The polar bear ringtone is also being made available to the 10,000 or more friends of the polar bear signed up on the Center’s polar bear page on myspace.com. [Press release]

Related: - Endangered wildlife ringtones

Shiro the budgie goes ringtone

Shiro the budgie is capable of reciting passages from books and can "talk" constantly for about 20 seconds. Ringtones featuring a recording of the bird's voice are about to go on sale from dwango, the major Japanese ringtone company on whose TV ads the bird is already appearing, reports Mainichi Daily News.

"We've received a lot of calls from people about Shiro's ad, saying things like they're pleased because they've got a budgie of their own or wanting to know how they can train their own birds to speak as well," a Dwango spokesman tells Shukan Bunshun.

Filming Shiro for his hit commercial wasn't so easy. "We filmed him constantly for about three months 'cause he had a few problems with his timing. Budgies talk every day, but they don't always necessarily follow the script, which is what we needed Shiro to do," the Dwango spin doctor says. "We wanted to get a really good sound bite for the ringtone, so just kept on at it. The film crew had a pretty rough time of it."

Related:

-- Birds mimic ring tones
-- Birdsong ringtones
-- Links to more animal tones.

Nature Calling

The website of the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safetey is offering free ringtones from the wild, all belonging to endangered species. Take your pick between the African Elephant, a Great Panda, a Hyazinthara (a sort of Brasilian parrot), a Wolf, a Siamang or a Hyena.

All sounds come from the Archive of Animal Voices at the Museum of Natural Science/Berlin and therefore exist in high quality.

Related:

-- Downloading animal-noise ringtones for a good cause

-- More on animal noises made in the wild

-- "gorilla beating its chest" ringtone, courtesy of The British Library

Old-Time Radio Show Ringtones

MediaBay and dotPhoto,today announced they have entered into an agreement to offer content from MediaBay's extensive classic radio show library through dotPhoto's Ringtalker ringtone service. [Press release]

Mobile users will be able to select ringtone audio clips from MediaBay's library of more than 50,000 hours of classic old-time radio programs, including Abbott & Costello, The Jack Benny Show, Dimension X, Duffy's Tavern, The Great Gildersleeve, Lights Out and Sorry, wrong number.

Ringtalker will begin to offer MediaBay radio content starting on April 28, 2005 at Radiospirits.

This is NOT my era, I'm not that old, but these ringtones are wonderful! Click here for my favorite, Bob Hope's "Thank you for the memories".

Mockingbird sings ringtones

The Houston Chronicle has a wonderful article on the courtship practices of our feathered friends and we discover that some breeds really know how to strut their stuff. Males dance, posture, bluff and sings note from ringtones or doorbells - all part of an elaborate routine to convince females of male prowess.

"[...] But the courtship performance of most male birds, however, is with song. And no bird illustrates courtship song better than the mockingbird, which sings his heart out for females.

Combining tunes from other birds along with the disparate notes from doorbells and cell phones, the mockingbird can render up to 200 unique harmonies. It can also mimic the songs of 36 different songbirds.

In fact, a female mockingbird chooses her mate based on his song. She is lured to the male that can sing the greatest number of harmonies and mimic the widest variety of other bird songs."

This reminds of a widely circulated story in 2001 about a Danish man who claimed the sparrows in his garden were chirping the Nokia classic tone. And along the same lines, one may also purchase a CD to teach birds to sing mobile phone ringtones.

More on bird ringtones:

-- Cell Phones Heed Call of the Wild - Cell-phone users in the US can set their ringers to the song of the pied butcherbird, cry of the screaming piha or tremolo of a loon, among other critters,

-- Birdsong ringtones - According to Neil Wyatt, chief executive of the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country, which co-ordinates the symphony, the interest in birdsong is growing and apparently, bird ringtones are also popular; "the yellowhammer, wood warbler and lapwing are among many that can be downloaded".

Cell Phones Heed Call of the Wild

Cell-phone users in the United States will soon have the option to set their ringers to the song of the pied butcherbird, cry of the screaming piha or tremolo of a loon, among other critters, reports Wired.

Classic Ringtones, which offers about 40 different chirps, roars and calls from various animals, is launching in the United States in late November, after pioneering its nature notes in the United Kingdom last year.

And nice, "Executives are committed to giving the animals a cut of their success. "Songwriter's fees" of 10 percent of each sale will be donated to environmental and nature advocacy groups."

Related articles on animal tones:

-- Birdsong ringtones

-- Downloading animal-noise ringtones for a good cause

-- Ringtone for biology majors

-- More on animal noises made in the wild

-- "gorilla beating its chest" ringtone, courtesy of The British Library

Birdsong ringtones

The UK Independent has a wonderful article about an event called "The International Dawn Chorus Day", where bridwatchers from all over the world gather at dawn to hear a bird call symphony.

According to Neil Wyatt, chief executive of the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham & the Black Country, which co-ordinates the symphony, the interest in birdsong is growing and apparently, bird ringtones are also popular; "the yellowhammer, wood warbler and lapwing are among many that can be downloaded".

So for all of the birdwatchers who read Ringtonia, here's where to go online to download your favorite birdcalls:

-- Mobile Avenue because with Birdlife, they have produced the largest selection of high-quality ring tones for (Nokia) handsets. The tones cover a number of European and African species and some more specialised bird calls.

-- Or, in a reverse fashion, you could also purchase a CD from artists Thomson & Craighead's and "Teach a bird to sing a mobile ringtone".

This idea has got to come from one of the most off-the-wall ringtone stories that circulated in May 2001, about a Danish man who claimed the sparrows in his garden were chirping the Nokia classic tone.

Downloading animal-noise ringtones for a good cause

Vodafone Live! supports the world's oldest conservation group, Fauna and Fora International (FFI) with wildlive.

Users can download animal-noise ringtones, wildlife and landscape pictures and enter competitions, receive news alerts and create mobile communities.

All revenues generated by people using the services will be donated by Vodafone to FFI. [Mobile Today]

Ringtone for biology majors

I was in Paris this weekend, and on my way home, waiting at Easy Jet's crowded lounge at the gate, this woman's phone rang (though "ringing" is not accurate to describe the (loud) sound it made) startling all passengers. Click here to hear what it sounded like and download if you like drawing attention to yourself.

More on animal noises made in the wild

Here's more on The British Library's offering of animal noises made in the wild and where they can be found. They are available on Mobiletones, for owners of Samsung T100 or V200 handsets. But anyone can sample one of the 40 sounds in their catalogue, check them out! Here's my selection: VERY VERY frightening-I-kid-you-not, the Desert Cobra Attack. Hippos Bellowing is full of merriment. Extremely irritating, though as a general rule bird sounds are proven to be relaxing, Pengouins colony, and exactly what you would expect, Pigs grunting sounds like, well, pigs grunting. Unfortunately, the much written about "gorilla pounding his chest" sound is not in this first offering.

In this very amusing article published in The Telegraph, Bryony Gordon samples the animal ringtones while commuting into London and later, wondering around the City. "Allocating a particular wildlife ringtone to a specific caller captured the imagination of many - particularly the concept of using howling wolves for the in-laws. In Trafalgar Square, Linda Belenkin, 47, laughed when she heard the pig grunts. "I might download that and use it as a warning that my bank manager is calling".

"gorilla beating its chest" ringtone, courtesy of The British Library

New Zealand's National Business Review reports on a story published in The Times Online on the The British Library -- which has the world's largest animal sound archive -- licensing 40 recordings from its vast collection of animal noises, for use as mobile phone ringtones. According to The Times, the catalogue will include "the raucous screeches of the Amazonian parrot, the grunts of pigs and the thuds of a gorilla beating its chest".

"The first animal ringtones will be available on the Internet later this week for the latest “polyphonic” mobiles. The sounds are downloaded for between £1.50 and £4 each", reports The Times Online.