Differences between songs and sexes of birds

2001/05/18 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Biologia

Usually, young birds learn by singing adult songs. But, apparently, not everyone learns the same and there are birds that show a different behavior according to sex.

Among the birds of the temperate regions, one of the few species that sing both sexes is the cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). However, the way to learn has not been the same as the male or the female. A study from the University of California explains that females need three times less time than males to learn melodies. Thus, young females learn all the songs in 70 days, while males introduce them in 7 months.

But males, unlike females, although they do not have models in their environment, have the capacity to develop their singing. According to the researchers, this difference between both sexes is because the male, once abandoned the nest, has to adapt to another medium, so he must learn his ‘dialect’. Females support the dialect of the place of origin.