Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 35, Issue 5, October 1987, Pages 1356-1365
Animal Behaviour

Song learning in female-raised zebra finches: another look at the sensitive phase

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(87)80008-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Captive male zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, that were raised by females, in complete isolation from adult males, retained the ability to learn song from an adult male when this tutor was later made available to them. Despite their lack of experience of adult males, youngsters recognized the more suitable quality of adult male song, learning it even when they were sexually mature if a tutor became available. They did not use female call notes as song elements unlike those that remained isolated from adult males. The results therefore suggest that, first, young birds do not need to experience adult male song during the dependent period for song learning to occur later and, second, until sufficient suitable material has been heard the sensitive phase remains open-ended, and the young male remains capable of song learning.

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    A key feature of CPs is that there are defined ages of onset and closing for the enhanced phase of experience-dependent neural plasticity. Based on a series of behavioral experiments, the phase for tutor song memorization has been fairly well defined as ending at Posthatch day 65 (P65) (Eales, 1985, 1987; Roper and Zann, 2006; Morrison and Nottebohm, 1993; Slater et al., 1991; Böhner, 1990, 1983; Adret et al., 2012). The onset of sensory learning has been more difficult to precisely define, perhaps in part because of natural variation across individuals.

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Present address: Department of Zoology and Marine Biology, University of St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, Scotland, U.K.

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