Animals often have preferences: dog lovers can tell you their pet’s favorite toy, or place to sleep, for example. In the bird ...

By Dean Murray Some birds want pink nests, according to new research. A new study found that birds with strong color preferences for nest-building material were less likely to copy others, instead ...

Their first vocalizations help young zebra finch males to memorize the songs of adults. When babies learn to talk or birds learn to sing, the same principle applies: listen and then imitate. This is ...

We like to think that animals follow the crowd. If most of the group does something, surely the individual will copy. But what if the story is more complicated? What if the deciding factor isn't just ...

Since zebra finches are among the very few animals to show vocal learning, they offer unique opportunities to study not only practice and performance, but the process of language acquisition itself.

Learn why zebra finches are considered low risk pets and what care, habitat, and health needs to consider before owning one.

Many bird species fly together with conspecifics in flocks to safely cover flight distances. To avoid collisions with each other and head in the same direction, flock members have to communicate and ...

Male zebra finches learn their song by imitating conspecifics. To stand out in the crowd, each male develops its own unique song. Because of this individual-specific song, it was long assumed that ...

In the Australian Outback, we follow Mylene Mariette as she sets up an unusual experiment that reveals something extraordinary about the zebra finches battle to survive. When it gets really hot out ...

Female zebra finches at the University of Wyoming’s Animal Behavior and Cognition Lab were subjects of a new study on bird personality. (Lisa Barrett Photo) Personality is not unique to humans. New ...

The babbling of zebra finches creates connections in the brain that enable them to memorize the song of their tutor. The picture shows a zebra finch chick (2nd from left) between a female (left) and a ...