Lost in translation: To the untrained zebra finch ear, jazzy courtship songs fall flat
Zebra finches brought up without their fathers don鈥檛 react to the singing of potential suitors in the same way that female birds usually do, hinting that the environment in which the birds are raised can have a determining effect on their behaviour.
The finding, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B by 平特五不中 researchers, highlights how learning and experience, including developmental auditory experience, can shape how the brain perceives vocal signals.
The research adds to a growing body of evidence underscoring how specific experiences are necessary to shape the developing brain, and how the absence of specific inputs can have long-lasting effects on perception, neural processing, and behaviour.
Songbirds use courtship signals such as song to identify individuals and select a mate.
Zebra finch males each produce a single song, but they perform a 鈥渂etter鈥� version when courting a female. There is accumulating evidence that females choose mates based on how well their potential suitor performs this 鈥渋mproved version鈥�, providing information about his quality, condition and fitness.
Given the importance of being able to judge the subtle difference in the male zebra finches鈥� song, scientists imagined this skill to be innate within female zebra finches. To test that idea,
Sarah Woolley, professor at 平特五不中鈥檚 Department of biology, and graduate student Nancy Chen decided to investigate how developmental exposure to adult male song might affect behavioural responses to song in female zebra finches.
鈥淏ecause females use song in selecting a mate, we expected that females might have an inherent bias to recognize and prefer high-performance songs鈥�, professor Woolley says.
Surprisingly, they found that a bird鈥檚 capacity to distinguish courting versus non-courting singing greatly depends on its upbringing.
Female zebra finches brought up with both of their parents reacted in the 鈥渘ormal鈥� way and preferred the courtship songs of potential suitors. Females reared without their father鈥檚 songs didn鈥檛 consistently prefer high-performance courtship songs.
In other words, female zebra finches need to hear dad鈥檚 singing to help her distinguish which suitor sings best.
聽鈥淚n the wild, females would rarely be raised without a father/tutor,鈥� professor Woolley notes. 鈥淭hat said, it could mean that the environment that birds are raised in will influence song preferences. We already know that male birds can shift their songs to make them easier to hear in noisy, urban environments.聽Our data could mean that the ability of females to detect those songs may be affected by what they hear when they are young.鈥�
This study was supported by RGPIN402186 (S.C.W.) and RGPIN402417 (Jon Sakata) from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
Courtship song preferences in female zebra finches are shaped by developmental auditory experience, by Yining Chen et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B