Young zebra finches are able to learn their fathers’ song
via their brothers
The song of songbirds is usually transmitted from one
generation to the next by imitation learning and is thought to be similar to
the acquisition of human speech. Although song is often learnt from an adult
model, there is some evidence of active vocal learning among siblings.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen now
showed that juvenile zebra finches that have been raised without their fathers
are able to learn their song via a brother that for a short period had been
exposed to the fathers’ song. Remarkably, when comparing the songs of the two
brothers, they turned out to be more alike than the song of the brother with
its father. Thus, just like an adult tutor, a juvenile peer has the same
potential to serve as a song model, and this could be a common strategy in
birdsong learning.