What a Bird Brain

Zebra finches have been model animals used to study language learning in birds.

Bird songs are unique to each individual bird. The quality of the song is used to attract a mate and to defend territory. Some of the courtship songs can be quite sophisticated.

The male and female zebra finch are perched. It is hard to distinguish them apart.

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Both the male and female Zebra finch have red eyes and bills. Only the male Zebra finch has chestnut colored cheek patches.

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Have you noticed some differences between male and female birds? Do they look different from each other or act differently? What about human males and females?

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Select this then click anywhere in the book to start reading text Speak the current selection Stops speech playback Double-click a word in the book and click this icon to translate the word into Spanish