Historically, bird song has been regarded as a sex-specific signalling trait; males sing to
attract females and females drive the evolution of signal exaggeration by preferring males …

The process through which young male songbirds learn the characteristics of the songs of
an adult male of their own species has strong similarities with speech acquisition in human …

Charles Darwin's experiences in the Galápagos Islands in 1835 helped to guide his
thoughts toward a revolutionary theory: that species were not fixed but diversified from their …

Male songbirds sing to establish territories and to attract mates. 1, 2 However, increasing
reports of singing in non-reproductive contexts 3 and by females 4, 5 show that song use is …

Mate choice studies routinely assume female preferences for indicators of high quality in
males but rarely consider developmental causes of within-population variation in mating …

Higher cognitive function depends on accurate detection and processing of subtle features
of sensory stimuli. Such precise computations require neural circuits to be modulated over …

Zebra finches are an important model for vocal learning and avian mate choice. The two are
contingent on each other: males' learned songs are addressed at females with learned …

The songs of many birds are unusual in that they serve a role in identifying conspecific
mates, yet they are also culturally transmitted. Noting the apparently high rate of diversity in …

In almost all songbird species studied males sing, but differences in female song range from
species where females have never been observed to sing to those where females sing as …

Songbirds learn their song from an adult conspecific tutor when they are young, much like
the acquisition of speech in human infants [1, 2]. When an adult zebra finch is re-exposed to …