Zebra finch song is a very short-range signal in the wild: evidence from an integrated approach

Hugo Loning*, Simon C. Griffith, Marc Naguib

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)
    34 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Birdsong is typically seen as a long-range signal functioning in mate attraction and territory defense. Among birds, the zebra finch is the prime model organism in bioacoustics, yet almost exclusively studied in the lab. In the wild, however, zebra finch song differs strikingly from songbirds commonly studied in the wild as zebra finch males sing most after mating and in the absence of territoriality. Using data from the wild, we here provide an ecological context for a wealth of laboratory studies. By integrating calibrated sound recordings, sound transmission experiments and social ecology of zebra finches in the wild with insights from hearing physiology we show that wild zebra finch song is a very short-range signal with an audible range of about nine meters and that even the louder distance calls do not carry much farther (up to about fourteen meters). These integrated findings provide an ecological context for the interpretation of laboratory studies of this species and indicate that the vocal communication distance of the main laboratory species for avian acoustics contrasts strikingly with songbirds that use their song as a long-range advertisement signal.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)37-46
    Number of pages10
    JournalBehavioral Ecology
    Volume33
    Issue number1
    Early online date22 Sept 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jan 2022

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Author(s) 2021. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

    Keywords

    • active space
    • animal communication
    • birdsong
    • communication distance
    • social behavior
    • Taeniopygia guttata

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