What a Bird Brain

What a

BIRD BRAIN!

Birds taking flight at sunset

By Allison Posey

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Table of Contents

Avian brain.........page 4

Language............page 6

Finch...............page 8

Stuttering..........page 12

Genetics............page 14

References..........page 18

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Have you ever been called 'bird brain'?

If you have, you have been given quite a compliment!

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This black and white image of a bird brain shows a large, smooth cortex (left), folded cerebellum (right) and brainstem (bottom).

It turns out that our most our Avian friends have sophisticated brains that are quite similar to our own brains.

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Though bird brains are a thousand times smaller than a human brain, birds have a cortex that controls perception, such as seeing and hearing. The cortex also controls some aspects of their behavior, such as moving their wings to fly or dancing to impress a potential mate.

Image of hummingbird flying toward a flower

Hummingbirds perceive flowers in different ways from us. They see colors differently and are able to perceive food in the flowers.

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This male (yellow) and female (gray) canary are one species of song bird.

Interestingly, scientists have found that songbirds learn language in a way that is similar to how humans learn language.

There are over 90 species of songbirds and they all have unique songs. For instance, hummingbird songs sound more like an insect sound, whereas canaries sing melodies that are learned new each season. Mockingbirds sing songs which copy the sounds of other birds in the area.

Click on this link to hear a cardinal song.

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Image of baby looking as though he may babble

Is this baby going to make a babbling sound?

Do you remember your first word? Odds are it was not a word such as "cortex" or "motorcycle."

Most early human sounds are babbles, such as "da da" or "ga ga." And, just like us, it turns out the first language sounds made by song birds are unstructured babble as well!

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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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Baby Zebra finches listen to the adult birds and begin to copy adult sounds. Their babbling sounds become a more defined and fluid language.

The first sound of baby Zebra finch is "fffff"

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Zebra finch must hear and practice language before they are 65 days old or they will not learn to speak.

If a chick's hearing is disrupted or if a chick's vocal system is not working correctly, it will not learn to sing. This important window of time to learn language is a critical period.

Humans who have not had exposure to hearing language or have not been able to practice speaking language do not learn language in the same way as someone who has had normal hearing and vocal systems.

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Male starling standing on grass, notice it's yellow beak which indicates testosterone!

This is a male Starling- notice its yellow beak. There is testosterone in its system, and it must be singing more!

When a bird sings, an area of their brain called the HVC(High Vocal Center) actually increases in volume.

It has been shown that male starlings that sing more have larger HVC. Also, since more singing occurs in the spring to attract a mate, the HVC is actually larger in the spring than in the fall.

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It turns out, some birds even stutter, just as some humans stutter. For some reason, individuals who stutter 'get stuck' on a phonetic sound.

From stuttering birds, scientists have learned clues to the cause of human stuttering.

Drawing titled 'a million things I'd like to say'

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Sketch of general brain areas for language

This is a sketch of the general brain areas for language in humans. Broca's is involved in making speech sound, Wernicke's is involved in recognizing speech.

In stuttering humans and birds, there is less cortical activity in the sound processing region of the brain.

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The coiled, thin strands are DNA (FOXP2 gene is one small part of) and the green are proteins that coil the DNA so it fits in your small cells.

Additionally, the gene FOXP2 seems to play a role in learning language. For instance, for young birds learning a new song, more FOXP2 protein is made. For birds such as canaries who learn new songs each year, FOXP2 gets made more each spring when learning the new melody.

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Yeast, a type of fungus, is commonly found in baking products such as bread. It releases carbon dioxide during respiration, making "fizzy" drinks "fizz"

It turns out many organisms have the FOXP2 gene, including yeast, fish, flies, and bees. Therefore, FOXP2 is not just used for speech. Exactly what this protein does, how it interacts with language and other factors to change genetic transcription will be interesting to consider in future research.

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Model of testosterone, black are carbon atoms, white are hydrogen atoms, and red are oxygen atoms.

In addition to FOXP2 changes, the levels of testosterone also changes through the year. Testosterone promotes male sexual behavior, such as singing. More testosterone means more singing... this means changes in the brain structure in the HVC of the bird's brain!

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Baby starlings are just beginning to understand how their behavior influences the behavior of their parent- they are wanting food!

Next time you hear a bird singing outside, listen closely and consider what that bird may be communicating and how its brain is changing from its behavior.

And if someone ever calls you a bird brain, be sure to say, "thank you!"

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References: Thank you to the following:

Photoperiodic induced changes in reproductive state of border canaries (Serinus canaria) are associated with marked variation in hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone immunoreactivity and the volume of song control regions.

Hurley LL, Wallace AM, Sartor JJ, Ball GF.

Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2008 Aug;158(1):10-9. Epub 2008 May 29.

2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3214/03-brain.html

Images are from Google Images : http://images.google.com/

4. Bird sounds are from : http://www.enature.com/birding/audio.asp

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