The secret strategic love song of birds

A recent study found how male birds flirt, chasing after their children are no different from how phone companies attract customers.

If all of these companies provide the same items, it will be easier to compare and choose the best from it and quickly eliminate costly business plans. In fact, suppliers offer different types of promotions that are hard to compare - some offer free calls to friends, others don't limit call time to off-peak or electricity. long distance voice.

Similarly, male birds that cannot compete by singing a single song will have to switch to a different melody to approach and attract their children. The researchers found that the collection of males that females compare is similar to the phone buyers who compare business strategies.

Corn finches (Photo: 10000birds.com)

Researcher David Logue and behavioral ecologist at the University of Lethbridge (Canada) said: 'If a male is singing better than an opponent, it tends to adopt an opponent's style so that the offspring can be easy. It's easy to compare and know which one is best. '

But if a male knows that it can be defeated, 'the greatest luck for it is to try to deceive the children by singing a completely different melody. If children cannot compare two different melodies, it can be mistaken and choose the lesser '.

In the case of songbirds and telephone companies, researcher Wolfgang Forstmeier is also a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Ornithology Institute (Germany): 'Customers are like female birds. all want to get the best fat deal while the advertiser wants to sell the product - or for birds that are male sperm sperm - without regard to whether the customer gets the things the best event or not. "

This may explain why songbirds must evolve with learning to sing different melodies. Forstmeier said: 'Learning more melodies gives males a chance. They can follow the opponent's style while avoiding the situation of matching with other more potential ones. '

This may also be true for animal displays, such as eye-catching dances or brilliant stripes. Instead of trying and failing to become perfect, some males choose the path of innovation.

Forstmeier said: 'Maybe the new signal has evolved because it benefits the weak males' . As long as the female birds or phone customers still tend to choose larger, better items , there is always an opportunity for quality directives for their children and customers. "

To get evidence for this hypothesis, the choice will be directed to birds that are often studied songs such as sparrows, corn sparrows or wrenches. Logue said: 'The first important question is whether weak singers can bring novelty to their song.'

Logue and Forstmeier detailed their findings in the June issue of American Naturalist.