CANBERRA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers have discovered that the native superb fairy-wren learns how to sing while incubating as an embryo, thanks to its father's tendency to "tutor" eggs in the nest.
Professor Sonia Kleindorfer, animal behavior expert at Flinders University, told Xinhua on Wednesday that chicks which are tutored during their development in the egg are more attentive and respond better to songs once they hatch.
"This is the first study to show that embryos from enriched prenatal acoustical environments pay more attention to song, and that a fathers' song rate is associated with how much attention an embryo pays to (the dad's) song," Kleindorfer said.
"The evolutionary implication is that preference for a species-specific song or a gender-specific song may be the result of familiarity and experience in this lifetime, rather than be genetically determined."
Kleindorfer said that the heart rates of chicks lowered when being tutored, meaning they were aware of - and attentive to - the song being performed.
"Embryos from song-rich families lowered their heart rate more when exposed to their species song. A lower heart rate to a stimulus is a measure of prenatal attentiveness," she told Xinhua.
"In this study, we showed that embryos paid more attention to song if they were raised in families with high song rate by the mother and father."
Kleindorfer added that until now, experts' understanding about the song preference of the native superb fairy-wren has come from studies conducted after hatching occurred. She said that this study shows that the song which chicks choose to sing as they grow up is ingrained in them during their time growing in the egg.
"Generally, in songbirds, sons produce a song similar to the song produced by their father (the vocal tutor) and daughters mate with a male that produces a song type similar to that of their father," she said.
"Therefore, the evolutionary implications of song preference are significant as they determine reproductive signals and gene flow across generations."
