Data from: Horizontal transmission of the father’s song in the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

As is the case for human speech, birdsong is transmitted across generations by imitative learning. Although transfer of song patterns from adults to juveniles typically occurs via vertical or oblique transmission, there is also evidence of horizontal transmission between juveniles of the same generation. Here, we show that a young male zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) that has been exposed to its father during the sensitive period for song learning can lead a brother, that has never heard the paternal song, to imitate some sounds of the father. Moreover, song similarity between the two brothers was higher than the similarity measured between the paternal song and the song of the brother that had a week-long exposure to the father. We speculate that the phenomenon of within-generation song learning among juveniles may be more widespread than previously thought and that when a juvenile evaluates potential models for imitative learning, a sibling may be as salient as an adult.

与人类语言类似，鸟鸣声（birdsong）同样通过模仿学习（imitative learning）实现代际传递。尽管鸣曲模式从成鸟向幼鸟的传递通常以纵向传递（vertical transmission）或侧向传递（oblique transmission）为主，但已有证据显示同代幼鸟之间也存在横向传递（horizontal transmission）现象。本研究表明，在鸣曲学习关键期（sensitive period）接触过其父鸣曲的雄性斑胸草雀（zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata）幼鸟，能够引导从未听过亲代鸣曲的同胞兄弟模仿其父的部分鸣唱声音。此外，两只同胞兄弟间的鸣曲相似度，高于亲代鸣曲与仅接触父本一周的幼鸟鸣曲之间的相似度。我们推测，幼鸟之间的代内鸣曲学习现象或许比此前学界认知的更为普遍；且当幼鸟评估可供模仿学习的潜在示范对象时，同胞同伴或许与成年个体同样具有吸引力。