Animal Communication: The Science of Term Paper

Evolution may select certain birds that are able to produce mimicking mobbing calls and allow birds able to produce more effective alarm calls to survive, but there is also a neurological learning component from other birds. Also, "unlike children, who can learn any language they are exposed to, the musical language of most birds is somewhat constrained by their genetic heritage. Given a choice of two songs -- their own and that of another, even a closely related species -- they will learn their own. but, if exposed only to the song of another species, they will learn a version of it" (Brody, 1991:1). Thus, birds can develop certain species specific calls, like alarms, but also can within some constraint learn calls that sound the same and are recognizable to other species. Functionality is also an issue, as songs for mating, as discussed by Brody (1991) only have use in terms of reproduction, unlike mob calls.

Phylogeny (How does it develop in many other generations?)

Birds are very much like human children in the way that they learn.Physiology of the species and individual difference (like deafness) can influence the ability to learn, but clearly there is a learning process over time. When young birds sing so-called subsongs "of nonsense syllables," as "pre-adolescents they sing often-mispronounced fragments called plastic song," and as "young adults they are able to articulate properly the song characteristic of their species, crystallized song," after learning from their elders and also they can be influenced by their environment (Brody, 1991:1).

Works Cited

Brody, Jane. "Not Just Music, Bird Song Is a Means of Courtship and Defense." The New

York Times. April 9, 1991. [18 Feb 2007] http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9D0CE7DC1230F93AA35757C0A967958260

Cully. Jack Jr. "Mobbing Behavior of a Pair of Elegant Trogons." The Condor Society.

Published by the Cooper Ornithological Society, 1986: 103-104. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v088n01/p0103-p0104.pdf

Marler, P. "Specific distinctiveness in the communication signals of birds."

Behaviour 11:13-39, 1957. Reprinted "This Week's Citation Classic." No. 11. 16 Mar 1986. http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1986/A1986A270700001.pdf.....