For over a century and a half, the Australian and Sunda zebra finches were classified as a single species, Taeniopygia guttata. The Australian zebra finch was described in 1837 by John Gould as Amadina castanotis, about two decades after the Sunda zebra finch ( T. Due to the ease of keeping and breeding the zebra finch in captivity, it has become Australia’s most widely studied bird by 2010, it was the most studied captive model passerine species worldwide, by a considerable margin. The bird has been introduced to Puerto Rico and Portugal. It ranges over most of the continent, avoiding only the cool humid south and some areas of the tropical far north. Hear more about this research midday Saturday on the Science Show on RN.The Australian zebra finch or chestnut-eared finch ( Taeniopygia castanotis) is the most common estrildid finch of Central Australia. If such a strategy is found to exist in other animals, it would suggest a previously unknown survival mechanism to help creatures adapt to global warming, researchers said. "So putting those two things together we can try and interpret what the adaptive benefit is for those parent's callings." "We took eggs from nests and we played them back - incubation calls or social calls - and we found that the individual behaviour of those nestlings hatching from those eggs differed between the treatment groups," Professor Buchanan said.
Professor Buchanan, who led the research team, told the ABC's PM program it took hundreds of hours of audio recordings to reach that conclusion. Scientists have known for decades that embryos have the capacity to hear, and even learn, external sounds.īut this study suggests that singing a song is actually part of the bird's parenting strategy. "By acoustically signalling high ambient temperatures to their embryos before hatching, zebra finch parents can program the developmental trajectories of their offspring," the study reported. "That's what they are effectively telling their embryos.
"I would say it translates to 'it's hot, babies, get prepared!' Researchers believe that the calls somehow affect the babies' growth, since they are delivered in the last one-third of the incubation period when the hatchlings' temperature and regulation system is starting to develop. This compact size would present a survival advantage, because having a small body makes it easier to cool down in hot climates.Īs they tracked these hot-call birds over time, researchers found they had more offspring than the other birds that did not hear the preparatory calls during the hot weather. Those who heard these "hot calls" grew slower and emerged smaller when they hatched than the other birds. Some eggs were played regular contact calls from adult zebra finches, while others were exposed to particular calls made by expectant parents, chirping to their eggs before they hatch in warm weather. To see what impact this chirping chatter might have on eggs, Mylene Mariette and Katherine Buchanan of Australia's Deakin University recorded the calls and played them for eggs in an incubator. The study in the journal Science examined a peculiar habit of zebra finches, which sing to their eggs particularly when the weather is hot - above 26 degrees Celsius - and when the end of their incubation period is near.Įggs are unaffected by outside temperatures and are kept at a steady temperature of 37 degrees Celsius when the parents are sitting on them.
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