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"The \"largest and oldest\" collection of natural sounds in the world is now digital and available online, Cornell University announced. \nThe Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology houses a scientific archive of biodiversity audio and video recordings. Previously in analog format, the recordings \u2014 which go back to 1929 \u2014 are now completely digitized, and can be heard at MacaulayLibrary.org. \n\"In terms of speed and the breadth of material now accessible to anyone in the world, this is really revolutionary,\" Greg Budney, Macaulay's audio curator, said in a statement. \nIt took archivists 12 years to finish digitizing the collection, which has nearly 150,000 audio recordings that run a total of 7,513 hours, according to Cornell. The library features 9,000 species, including mostly birds, as well as whales, elephants, frogs and primates. \nListen to a sampling of fascinating sounds, selected by the Macaulay Library, below:\n\n\"Earliest recording\": In 1929, Cornell Lab founder Arthur Allen recorded a Song Sparrow.\n\"Youngest bird\": A clip from 1966 records the sounds of an Ostrich chick while it's still inside the egg.\n\"Liveliest wake-up call\": A dawn chorus (of birds) in Queensland, Australia.\n\"Best candidate to appear on a John Coltrane record\": The indri is a lemur that sounds similar to a jazz clarinet.\n\"Most spines tingled\": A clip from 1992 of a Common Loon on an Adirondacks lake.\n\"Most erratic construction project\": A walrus making a hammering sound underwater.\n\"Most likely to be mistaken for aliens arriving\": This Curl-crested Manucode in New Guinea sounds like what you would imagine a UFO would sound like.\nWhat do you think of this natural sound archive? And what is your favorite sound from the collection? Tell us in the comments below. \nImage courtesy of Flickr, Polar Cruises\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/01/23/largest-natural-sound-archive/>