When a bird spots a predator and emits an alarm call, do its neighbors think “predator” and then react? Or do they automatically freeze or fly away because that’s what they’re wired to do?

It's practically inevitable that some pets go beyond their yard or enclosures and end up lost in the neighborhood. It's happened to dogs, it's happened to cats, or maybe an exotic pet like a parrot or ...

Human speech arises courtesy of some significant neural horsepower. Different areas of the brain are involved in determining the meaning that’s desired, finding the words to express it, and then ...

The raucous din of modern life can seriously mess with animals (SN: 2/9/15). Traffic noise can drown out mating calls, spike stress hormones and even increase mortality. Now, new research suggests ...

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 ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

In the Australian Outback, we follow Mylene Mariette as she sets up an unusual experiment that reveals something extraordinary about the zebra finches battle to survive. When it gets really hot out ...

Australian zebra finches sing a rhythmic high-pitched song while incubating their eggs in a hot environment, which researchers have named a “heat call”. Experiments now show that this call influences ...

Simon Griffith receives funding from The Australian Research Council, and this work was supported by a grant to Marc Naguib from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Hugo Loning ...

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 ...