Male mice are able to sing melodic tunes to attract female partners, a study has said.

The tunes are sung at ultrasonic range beyond human hearing, and each mouse has its own individual signature song, said the study by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna.

"It seems as though house mice might provide a new model organism for the study of song in animals. Who would have thought that," researcher Dustin Penn was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.

The scientists used digital audio software to analyse the duration, pitch and range of the songs of house mice.

They found that males' songs contain "fingerprints" that differ from one individual to another, including siblings.

The daily said the finding could lead to understanding how female mice avoid inbreeding.

The research has been published in the journal Physiology Behaviour and in the Journal of Ethology.