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Songs of songbird are no longer true
Translated from Dutch. View the original post
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A vicious circle seems born, because because of the wrong songs the males may be bothering the woman. The scaly lily honey is a beautifully colored songbird that occurs only in southeastern Australia. Unfortunately, the bird is threatened with extinction. And that greatly affects the remaining scaly lily honey. Because, as a new study shows, the remaining birds no longer learn the right song, with all the consequences that.
Learn song
Just as people learn to talk through other people, birds learn to sing by spending time with older species. In this way they create the right tune that then helps them to a female. But meanwhile, the numbers of scaly lily honeyers have declined disastrously. And as adult specimens are becoming rarer, the young scaly lily honeers are no longer able to master the right song. “If endangered birds are unable to learn to sing correctly, this seriously affects their ability to communicate well,” says research leader Ross Crates.
Incorrect tunes
In the study, the researchers traveled to the habitat of the scaly lily beater and listened carefully to their musical arsenal. The results are somewhat worrying. In the places where still a reasonable number of scaly lily honey eaters live, the males sing elaborate and complex songs. But in places where the birds are rare, the males sing simplified or even completely incorrect tunes. “For example, 18 male scaly lily doners — or about 12 percent of the total population — were only able to copy the songs of other bird species,” says researcher Dejan Stojanovic. “This lack of ability to communicate with their own species is unprecedented in a wild animal. We can assume that the bird species has become so rare that some young males will never find an older male teacher.”
Couples
A vicious circle seems born. Because because of the wrong songs, the males may be bothering a love partner. Because if they don't learn a song that's sexy enough, the chances of mating are reduced. “It could therefore worsen the decline in population,” emphasises Crates. “Females will avoid males singing unusual songs.”
Captivity
The study also shows that scaly lily babies born in captivity already sing completely different songs than their wild counterparts. Something that, according to the researchers, emphasizes the critical situation of the bird even more. “The unusual song of captive birds makes them even more unattractive to wild birds when they were released,” explains Crates. But for that, the researchers have a solution. “We've devised a new strategy to teach young captive scaly lily honeers the same song as wild birds,” says Crates. “This is what we want to do by playing audio recordings.”
In this way, the team hopes to save the kind of demise. Although it may not be enough. “The loss of the song is an important warning signal that the scaly lily honey is on the edge of the abyss,” says Crates. “We still have a lot to learn about how to help them.”
Learn song
Just as people learn to talk through other people, birds learn to sing by spending time with older species. In this way they create the right tune that then helps them to a female. But meanwhile, the numbers of scaly lily honeyers have declined disastrously. And as adult specimens are becoming rarer, the young scaly lily honeers are no longer able to master the right song. “If endangered birds are unable to learn to sing correctly, this seriously affects their ability to communicate well,” says research leader Ross Crates.
Incorrect tunes
In the study, the researchers traveled to the habitat of the scaly lily beater and listened carefully to their musical arsenal. The results are somewhat worrying. In the places where still a reasonable number of scaly lily honey eaters live, the males sing elaborate and complex songs. But in places where the birds are rare, the males sing simplified or even completely incorrect tunes. “For example, 18 male scaly lily doners — or about 12 percent of the total population — were only able to copy the songs of other bird species,” says researcher Dejan Stojanovic. “This lack of ability to communicate with their own species is unprecedented in a wild animal. We can assume that the bird species has become so rare that some young males will never find an older male teacher.”
Couples
A vicious circle seems born. Because because of the wrong songs, the males may be bothering a love partner. Because if they don't learn a song that's sexy enough, the chances of mating are reduced. “It could therefore worsen the decline in population,” emphasises Crates. “Females will avoid males singing unusual songs.”
Captivity
The study also shows that scaly lily babies born in captivity already sing completely different songs than their wild counterparts. Something that, according to the researchers, emphasizes the critical situation of the bird even more. “The unusual song of captive birds makes them even more unattractive to wild birds when they were released,” explains Crates. But for that, the researchers have a solution. “We've devised a new strategy to teach young captive scaly lily honeers the same song as wild birds,” says Crates. “This is what we want to do by playing audio recordings.”
In this way, the team hopes to save the kind of demise. Although it may not be enough. “The loss of the song is an important warning signal that the scaly lily honey is on the edge of the abyss,” says Crates. “We still have a lot to learn about how to help them.”
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