Affiliation:
1. Institute of Biology, Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Abstract
The study of vocal production learning in birds is heavily biased towards oscine songbirds, making the songbird model the reference for comparative studies. However, as vocal learning was probably ancestral in songbirds, interspecific variations might all be variations on a single theme and need not be representative of the nature and characteristics of vocal learning in other bird groups. To assess the possible mechanisms of vocal learning and its evolution therefore requires knowledge about independently evolved incidences of vocal learning. This review examines the presence and nature of vocal production learning in non-songbirds. Using a broad definition of vocal learning and a comparative phylogenetic framework, I evaluate the evidence for vocal learning and its characteristics in non-oscine birds, including well-known vocal learners such as parrots and hummingbirds but also (putative) cases from other taxa. Despite the sometimes limited evidence, it is clear that vocal learning occurs in a range of different, non-related, taxa and can be caused by a variety of mechanisms. It is more widespread than often realized, calling for more systematic studies. Examining this variation may provide a window onto the evolution of vocal learning and increase the value of comparative research for understanding vocal learning in humans.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Reference74 articles.
1. Towards a new taxonomy of primate vocal production learning;Fischer J;Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B,2019
2. Vocal Learning in Mammals
3. A taxonomy for vocal learning;Tyack PL;Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B,2019
4. Behaviour, biology and evolution of vocal learning in bats;Vernes SC;Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B,2019
5. Vocalizations and vocal mimicry in captive harbor seals, Phoca vitulina
Cited by
21 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献