Passerine mimics often imitate various vocalizations from other bird species and incorporate these sounds into their song repertoires.While a few anecdotes reported that wild songbirds imitated human-associated sounds...Passerine mimics often imitate various vocalizations from other bird species and incorporate these sounds into their song repertoires.While a few anecdotes reported that wild songbirds imitated human-associated sounds,besides captive parrots and songbirds,systemic and quantitative studies on human-made sound mimicry in wild birds remain scarce.In this study,we investigated the mimetic accuracy and consistency of electric moped sounds imitated by an urban bird,the Chinese Blackbird(Turdus mandarinus).We found that:(1)Only one type of electric moped sound was imitated,i.e.,13 of 26 males mimicked the first part of the antitheft alarm,a phrase containing a series of identical notes.(2)The mimicry produced by male Chinese Blackbirds had fewer notes and lower consistency within phrases compared to the model alarms.(3)The mimicry of male Chinese Blackbirds was imperfect,i.e.,most of the acoustic parameters differed from the model alarms.Additionally,mimetic notes were lower in frequency than the models.Mimetic notes from two areas were also different in acoustic structures,suggesting Chinese Blackbirds might learn mimicry mainly from conspecific neighbors within each area respectively rather than electric mopeds,namely the secondary mimicry.Imperfect mimicry of human-made sounds could result from cost and physical constraints,associated with high consistency,frequency,and repetitions.Consequently,Chinese Blackbirds copied a simplified version of electric moped alarms.We recommend further attention to mimic species inhabiting urban ecosystems to better understand vocal mimicry's adaptation to ongoing urbanization.展开更多
Natural and human-made disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods, blasts, and impacts have resulted in more than 1.1 million deaths, affected the lives of more than 2 billion people, and caused an esti...Natural and human-made disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods, blasts, and impacts have resulted in more than 1.1 million deaths, affected the lives of more than 2 billion people, and caused an estimated 1.5 trillion USD in damage worldwide between 2003 and 2013. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake killed 69226 people and left 17923 unaccounted for, it caused a direct loss of 140 billion USD.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFC3202104)the Western LightKey Laboratory Cooperative Research Cross-Team Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences(xbzg-zdsys-202207)。
文摘Passerine mimics often imitate various vocalizations from other bird species and incorporate these sounds into their song repertoires.While a few anecdotes reported that wild songbirds imitated human-associated sounds,besides captive parrots and songbirds,systemic and quantitative studies on human-made sound mimicry in wild birds remain scarce.In this study,we investigated the mimetic accuracy and consistency of electric moped sounds imitated by an urban bird,the Chinese Blackbird(Turdus mandarinus).We found that:(1)Only one type of electric moped sound was imitated,i.e.,13 of 26 males mimicked the first part of the antitheft alarm,a phrase containing a series of identical notes.(2)The mimicry produced by male Chinese Blackbirds had fewer notes and lower consistency within phrases compared to the model alarms.(3)The mimicry of male Chinese Blackbirds was imperfect,i.e.,most of the acoustic parameters differed from the model alarms.Additionally,mimetic notes were lower in frequency than the models.Mimetic notes from two areas were also different in acoustic structures,suggesting Chinese Blackbirds might learn mimicry mainly from conspecific neighbors within each area respectively rather than electric mopeds,namely the secondary mimicry.Imperfect mimicry of human-made sounds could result from cost and physical constraints,associated with high consistency,frequency,and repetitions.Consequently,Chinese Blackbirds copied a simplified version of electric moped alarms.We recommend further attention to mimic species inhabiting urban ecosystems to better understand vocal mimicry's adaptation to ongoing urbanization.
文摘Natural and human-made disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods, blasts, and impacts have resulted in more than 1.1 million deaths, affected the lives of more than 2 billion people, and caused an estimated 1.5 trillion USD in damage worldwide between 2003 and 2013. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake killed 69226 people and left 17923 unaccounted for, it caused a direct loss of 140 billion USD.
