Bird Song Cooperation

A study, supported in part by the National Science Foundation, found that female and male plain-tailed wrens cooperate to sing a duet that sounds as if a single bird sang it. The researchers assumed that the brain of each bird would have a memory of its own part of the duet, and also have a memory of the cues from its partner. They were surprised to find that both brains had a record of the complete duet--a performance that neither bird can do by itself. This image accompanied NSF press release "Bird Song Yields a New Understanding of Cooperation." Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation