Why are female birds singing less and less?

In most birds, only males sing, females are losing this ability. Recent published scientific studies indicate the root of this mystery.

Why do birds just sing a song?

In the spring and summer, in the mountains or areas with few people, we often hear the birds show each other. Many people mistakenly think that they only know how to sing and play, but in fact it is when the birds work hardest.

"The singers in the symphony orchestra are mostly male. They hum the melody of their hearts for the purpose of protecting territory and attracting their partners" - Mr. Gail Buhl - Director of education programs in China Raptor center of the University of Minnesota (USA) said.

It is worth mentioning that if you pay attention to listening, you will notice the song repeated . More precisely, the birds sing only one song.

According to Gail Buhl, in terms of territory, that melody means: "This is my area. I inform all - especially the other birds in the area - that this is the territory. "

In nature, other animals mark their territory by urinating or by rubbing to save their scent everywhere. Even humans have a way to mark their territory - that is building walls and fences. However, the birds did not do so. They have their own way - that's singing.The birds will sing over and over again for hours.

And if the song attracts a mate during the territorial declaration, it makes the male more powerful."There are nearly 10,000 species of birds in the world and each species has a different combination."

However, in most cases, the choice of mate belongs to the female. At that time, the song of the males will basically be like this: "Hey, come over, stop listening to me sing. I have a great voice and a healthy male bird. Stop and check it out " - Buhl shared.

Birds of paradise - one of the most ancient songbirds.(Photo: Nationalgeographic).

Mating and reproduction will cost a lot of energy for both males and females. While males sing, they cannot search for food. Females lose a lot of energy to lay eggs and raise babies, so they will be very careful when choosing a mate to breed.

When a baby bird is born, it will also repeat a melody. It is the sound of their parents feeding - a form like "Mom, I'm hungry".

This sound is " more " than other sounds because it is like a doorbell, they are created with the purpose of attracting attention and want to quickly be met.

According to Buhl, in winter the birds often sing less. The message of the song may be just a way to warn other birds about their territory or notice that there is food nearby.

Interestingly, birds of the same species but living in different localities often have a separate dialect . "This often happens when a natural barrier affects their singing, like a mountain. Over time, the songs of the birds will change slightly."

Explain the "tightness" of the female birds

It is clear that females do not have much demand for territorial protection or attracting partners like males. However, the fact that females are unusually vocal - even in some species of birds, are completely unaware of singing - makes scientists wonder about the solution.

Finally, Dr. Karan Odom's research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (USA) helped us understand the nature of this problem.

According to Odom and colleagues, the reason is that females often have to stay in an incubator. If singing, they will attract predators. And then, not only their lives but also eggs and small children will be in danger.

Female birds are less and less singing, not that they do not want to sing or cannot sing, but because it is too dangerous.

To test this hypothesis, scientists conducted experiments with an artificial nest containing quail eggs. They also let the sound of the quail birds singing in groups with different frequencies: low frequency (6 times / hour) and high frequency (20 times / hour). As a result, 40% of the groups had high frequency of singing with eggs being attacked by mammals. This number is 20% in low frequency singing groups.

"It is too expensive for singing. This is putting pressure on the evolution of female birds. They are singing less and less. The reason is that they do not want to sing or cannot sing, but it's because it's too dangerous, " said zoologist Sonia Kleindorfer of Flinders University (Australia).

Meanwhile, judging from this study, Jordan Price - a behavioral ecologist at the University of Maryland St. Mary (USA) - shared: "The results of this study are very important, it indicates the real reason why females rarely sing. Obviously, there is a gender difference in singing due to Natural selection against songbirds , not natural selection, supports the singing of males as we often think it is. "

However, the authors said this study is not necessarily the general answer to the question of why in many species, females are no longer singing. They said that historical acts or differences also produced this result.