“Same with people parrots Europeans have their own regional dialects“This powerful statement summarizes the surprising finding of a group of German researchers who have documented dialect differences in a parrot species for the first time: argentine parrot (Myiopsitta monachus), Also known as monk budgiethroughout the current European distribution area.
There are no native parrot species in Europe. But, Many species have established populations, including the Argentine parrot After some people escape the pet trade and run into the wild.
So much so that monk budgies, originally from South America, are now available in our country. in large quantities in many European countries. like all parrots These budgies have an extremely flexible vocal repertoire and can imitate and learn new sounds throughout their lives..
Because these parrots invaders It is “an excellent test tube for studying how the disease develops,” having recently spread across Europe. complex communication “in a species other than humans,” explains lead author Stephen Tyndel, a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour.
“Like humans, European monk budgies have unique ways of communicating depending on where they live.“Tyndel adds.
This research was conducted in the fifty years since monk budgies arrived in Europe and spread across the continent. The species has developed different dialects regional (i.e. calls that vary depending on where individuals live) and that they vary by country and city, he said.
contact calls
These scientists compared the calls made by monk budgies. Eight cities in four European countries (Spain, Belgium, Italy and Greece). A new statistical method allowed them to test whether the parrots’ calls differed from one city to another, as well as whether calls differed between parks in the same city.
“We wanted to know not only whether different dialects exist, but also which dialects there are. geographical scale found,” says Tyndel. The results leave no doubt: These parrots had different dialects in each city‘They sound different everywhere.
For example, the budgies in Brussels contact calls This situation is particularly different from those in other cities, says co-senior author Simeon Smeele, a scientist affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
For most parts, dialects differed in frequency modulation structure within each call“It’s very difficult for people to hear,” Smeele adds.
But when scientists looked for dialects in each city’s parks, they found no differences. Parrots did not make unique calls from one park to another.
“Taken together, this suggests that: Parrot dialects diverged early when the birds invaded European cities, but have not changed significantly since then.yes,” Tyndel points out.
Tyndel admits the results were surprising. “This suggests Dialects emerged through a passive process “Either they were different in the beginning (where birds copying birds made small mistakes, so cities gradually became different from each other), and these differences persisted over time,” he adds.
complex communication
However The team does not rule out that dialects may also form through an active process that may help birds communicate socially, such as recognizing group mates..
In parks, monk budgies live in cramped nests. Researchers believe that sound differences may be: slangin these smaller social units.
“We think dialects (like passwords) could be used to communicate who is part of which nest group.” says Smeele. In the future, the team aims to explore how individuals learn from each other and whether smaller groups display dialects in parks.
“This will contribute to our understanding of parrot communication and provide insight into how this communication occurs. complex communication It is linked to the complex social lives of humans and animals,” Tyndel concludes.
The Argentine parrot, which is native to South America and is very common, abundant and widespread as a cage bird, has spread to Europe. exhausts And deliberate publications.
So it began to colonize not only places more or less close to its normal breeding grounds, but also other countries. In Spain, as SEO/BirdLife points out in their ‘Bird Guide’, some reproductive nuclei of a particular entity.
Reference report: https://academic.oup.com/beheco/advance-article/doi/10.1093/beheco/arad093/7444942
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