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Vocal mimicry in male bowerbirds : who learns from whom?

journal contribution
posted on 2010-01-01, 00:00 authored by Laura Kelley, S Healy
Vocal mimicry is one of the more striking aspects of avian vocalization and is widespread across songbirds. However, little is known about how mimics acquire heterospecific and environmental sounds. We investigated geographical and individual variation in the mimetic repertoires of males of a proficient mimic, the spotted bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus maculatus. Male bower owners shared more of their mimetic repertoires with neighbouring bower owners than with more distant males. However, interbower distance did not explain variation in the highly repeatable renditions given by bower owners of two commonly mimicked species. From the similarity between model and mimic vocalizations and the patterns of repertoire sharing among males, we suggest that the bowerbirds are learning their mimetic repertoire from heterospecifics and not from each other.

History

Journal

Biology letters

Volume

6

Pagination

626 - 629

Publisher

The Royal Society Publishing

Location

London, England

ISSN

1744-9561

eISSN

1744-957X

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2010, The Royal Society

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