Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Largest Archive of Biodiversity Sound and Video Library


The use of sounds in our lives is taking a dramatic turn with the use of Apps and mobile technology.  How many of you know someone that has an animal sound as a ringtone or message tone on their phone?  That is what I mean.  The Macaulay Library archive is the largest collection of biodiversity audio and video recordings that was just recently completely digitized for anyone to access.  The collection contains over 150,000 digital recordings with about 9,000 different species represented.  There is an emphasis on birds, but the library also includes the sounds of several other types of animals.

The Macaulay Library is working to improve search features and make it possible for people to collect their own recordings and upload them directly to the archive.  Many of the recordings are being used in movies, museums, and as mentioned above, in smartphone apps.  On the site you can browse by bird, mammal, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, and fishes.

For each sound, other information is also provided that might be of use.  Behavior is discussed as well as a location for where the recording to place as well.  Users can also learn the equipment that was used to capture the sounds.