User:Mariomalicki

"Mating Call" is a short story by science fiction author Frank Herbert which first appeared in Galaxy magazine in 1961 and later in Herbert's 1985 short story collection The Worlds of Frank Herbert. It deals with topic of alien reproduction  and possible consequences of inter-species sharing of knowledge after the  first contact.

Plot
Laoconia Wilkinson, senior field agent of the Social Anthropological Service, and Marie Medill, a doctor in music, are sent to planet Rukuchp to help with a newly risen reproduction problem of Rukuchp natives that occurred after the natives were introduced to human music. Finally allowed to visit the natives Big Sing, they realize that the Rukuchp reproduce by parthenogenesis  which is induced by music (singing). The Big Song, leaves not only all of Rukuchp pregnant, but also all of the human females that listened to their song, as well as agents Wilkinson and Medill.

Significance
Like in many of Herbert's stories, several ideas mentioned in "Mating Call" are develop fully in his other works,

Publication history
1. Galaxy magazine, Volume 20 No. 1, April 1961.

2. Herbert, Frank. The Worlds of Frank Herbert, London: New English Library, 1970.