Speaker
Description
Songbirds sing to defend their territory and to attract partners. However, zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) are not territorial, they find their partner when young, and partners mate for life. Therefore, conventional theory predicts that zebra finches should not sing much at all. Yet, they do and their individually recognisable song is the focus of hundreds of lab-based studies. I here studied zebra finches in a wild population in Australia and I characterised many aspects of their song ecology. I show that wild zebra finch song is not linked primarily to breeding and mate choice but also to various other social activities. I discuss: 1.) which potential functions this may indicate, and 2.) the role of their individually distinct songs in this.
Co-authors: Simon C Griffith2, Marc Naguib1
1 Behavioural Ecology Group, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
