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

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 ...

Their first vocalizations help young zebra finch males to memorize the songs of adults. When babies learn to talk or birds learn to sing, the same principle applies: listen and then imitate. This is ...

To a human ear the songs of all male zebra finches sound more or less the same. But faced with a chorus of this simple song, female finches can pick the performer who sings most beautifully. Zebra ...