Small green-rumped louis develop individual contact calls. They are often compared to names. But are these signatures inherited from their biological parents, or learned from the birds that raise them?
Researcher Karl Berg studied this issue in Venezuela with nest boxes equipped with cameras and microphones. By exchanging eggs between nests, he could then compare the calls of the young to those of their biological parents and adoptive parents.
The resemblances mostly followed the nest in which the young had grown. Voice signatures were shaped by learning. They are not French words or given names during a ceremony: the parallel describes an individual signal acquired in the family environment. In the din of a group of birds, a call can thus carry a learned identity.
What we know
Results in green-rumped toui; individual signatures learned, not human language or generalization to all birds.
To go to the source
References consulted on September 21, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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