Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. GrrlScientist writes about evolution, ecology, behavior and health. But one thing that Mozart probably never knew about his ...

A symphony of synapses fires every time a songbird sings. For Erich Jarvis, a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University, the neural pathways he finds particularly interesting inside a bird’s brain are ...

Despite extensive research on avian vocal learning, we still lack a general understanding of how and when this ability evolved in birds. As the closest living relatives of the earliest Passeriformes, ...

The neurotransmitter dopamine is essential to correcting vocal mistakes, suggests a study on Bengalese finches. The Journal of Neuroscience published the research, led by Emory biologist Samuel Sober, ...

Besides being an adorable and important part of marine ecosystems, baby seals might have a unusual ability. They can change the pitch of their voices to be better understood, like humans do, a new ...

Humans appear to be one of the only animals capable of speech, which requires a range of skills and mental abilities. Among them, vocal learning—the ability to learn to produce new sounds—is critical ...

A very interesting study was just published that finds many parrots use words in appropriate contexts. This study, based on an analysis of almost 900 companion parrots as reported by a flock of ...

The sounds that most animals use to communicate are innate, not learned. However, a few species, including humans, can imitate new sounds and use them in appropriate social contexts. This ability, ...

The European starling boasts a remarkable repertoire. Versatile songbirds that learn warbles, whistles, calls, and songs throughout their lives, starlings rank among the most advanced avian vocal ...

Besides being an adorable and important part of marine ecosystems, baby seals might have a unusual ability. They can change the pitch of their voices to be better understood, like humans do, a new ...