Here’s how some creatures adapt their voices. <\/p>
Some animal communication is entirely hardwired. A moth can\u2019t learn to produce a different mating pheromone, for example. But animals with more complex communication often learn the subtleties of their language by copying those around them.<\/p>\n
In 1958, researchers at Cambridge University showed<\/a> that male chaffinch birds reared in isolation would grow up to sing a much simpler song; all the trills and flourishes are apparently learned from other chaffinches. Over time, isolated populations within the same species develop their own regional songs.<\/p>\n A 2016 study<\/a> at Prague University found that yellowhammers introduced to New Zealand from England in the 19th Century\u00a0were\u00a0using songs no longer sung by native yellowhammers back home.<\/p>\n An accent is more subtle than a whole new song though. The varying repertoire of songbird populations is more akin to different dialects. The message is basically the same \u2013 \u201cSingle male finch, non-smoker, GSOH, seeks mate\u201d \u2013 but the expression is different.<\/p>\n Whales and dolphins use different sequences of clicks in their songs from one group to another, but here the purpose is to signal membership, not attract mates. This makes whale songs more like national anthems or football chants than accents.<\/p>\n To qualify as an accent, we\u2019d need to find an animal that produces a regionally distinct vocalisation, which can still be understood by other groups, even if they hadn\u2019t encountered it before.<\/p>\n In 2006, it was reported that cows from different counties might moo with distinct accents, but this was actually a PR stunt for a\u00a0West\u00a0Country cheese manufacturer. However, a 2012 study at the University of London found<\/a> that when young goats joined a new social group, their bleats adapted to match those of the other goats. Yet, findings like this are extremely rare.<\/p>\n Asked by: Rob Sedgwick, Dorking<\/em><\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Here’s how some creatures adapt their voices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26544,"template":"","categories":[30],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/the-bizarre-and-often-misunderstood-science-of-animal-accents.jpg",940,530,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/the-bizarre-and-often-misunderstood-science-of-animal-accents-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/the-bizarre-and-often-misunderstood-science-of-animal-accents-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/the-bizarre-and-often-misunderstood-science-of-animal-accents-768x433.jpg",768,433,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/the-bizarre-and-often-misunderstood-science-of-animal-accents.jpg",800,451,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/the-bizarre-and-often-misunderstood-science-of-animal-accents.jpg",940,530,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/04\/the-bizarre-and-often-misunderstood-science-of-animal-accents.jpg",940,530,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Here's how some creatures adapt their voices.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/26543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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