Researchers uncover a mechanism for improving song learning
in juvenile zebra finches
Most songbirds learn their songs from an adult model, mostly
from the father. However, there are relatively large differences in the
accuracy how these songs are copied. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute
for Ornithology in Seewiesen now found in juvenile zebra finches a possible
mechanism that is responsible for the differences in the intensity of song
learning. They provided the nerve growth factor “BDNF” to the song control
system in the brain. With this treatment the learning ability in juvenile males
could be enhanced in such a way that they were able to copy the songs of the
father as good as it had been observed in the best learners in a zebra finch
nest.