If songbirds could appear on "The Masked Singer" reality TV competition, zebra finches would likely steal the show. That's because they can rapidly memorize the signature sounds of at least 50 ...

A study by UC Berkeley researchers discovered that zebra finches can quickly memorize the individual sounds of up to 50 other birds of their kind. The experiment began in December 2018 and found that ...

A baby's babbling may sound like nonsense, but it's actually an extended act of trial-and-error learning. As babies produce ...

Of all the world's animals, only humans, some kinds of birds and perhaps some porpoises and whales learn the sounds they use to communicate with each other through a process of listening, ...

Male zebra finches learn their song by imitating conspecifics. To stand out in the crowd, each male develops its own unique song. Because of this individual-specific song, it was long assumed that ...

In our quest to find what makes humans unique, we often compare ourselves with our closest relatives: the great apes. But when it comes to understanding the quintessential human capacity for language, ...

Springtime has officially come to Ithaca, and, along with it, a chorus of songbirds from robins to cardinals to finches. While these melodies may seem ordinary, according to Prof. Michael Goldstein, ...

Female zebra finches, normally devoted to their mates, are more likely to flirt with male strangers when background noise goes up, say researchers. A test with finches in a lab found that white noise ...

You know how that guy at the karaoke bar singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” sounds a little off after he’s had a few drinks? The same goes for buzzed birds, according to a team led by ...

Like humans who can instantly tell which friend or relative is calling by the timbre of the person's voice, zebra finches have a near-human capacity for language mapping. If songbirds could appear on ...