Acoustic signals serving intraspecific communication by predators are perceived by potential prey as warning signals. We analysed the acoustic characteristics of howling of wolves and found a striking similarity to the warning sounds of technical sirens. We hypothesize that the effectivity of sirens as warning signals has been enhanced by natural sensory predisposition of humans to get alerted by howling of wolves, with which they have a long history of coexistence. Psychoacoustic similarity of both stimuli seems to be supported by the fact that wolves and dogs perceive the sound of technical sirens as a relevant releasing supernormal stimulus and reply to it with howling. Inspiration by naturally occurring acoustic aposematic signals might become an interesting example of biomimetics in designing new warning sound systems.

中文翻译：

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狼嚎和紧急警报器：Aposematic 信号自然和技术融合的假设

捕食者提供种内交流的声音信号被潜在的猎物视为警告信号。我们分析了狼嚎的声学特征，发现与技术警报器的警告声音惊人的相似。我们假设警报器作为警告信号的有效性已被人类的自然感官倾向增强，因为它们与狼的嚎叫有着悠久的共存历史。两种刺激的心理声学相似性似乎得到了以下事实的支持：狼和狗将技术警报的声音视为相关的释放超常刺激并以嚎叫回应。自然发生的声学信号的启发可能成为仿生学设计新警告声音系统的一个有趣例子。