Decades ago, behavioral biologist Diane Colombelli-Négrel observed a very strange behavior in the small Australian seal White-bellied Bluebird:
When the mother incubated her eggs – when the most sensible thing should be complete silence so as not to attract predators – she chose to sing to her heart’s content.
Now researchers have revealed the reason to the seemingly inappropriate behavior.
—
Researchers examined eggs from a variety of species by measuring the heart rate of the fetus inside the egg. A falling pulse indicated that the fetus was paying attention.
When the eggs were exposed to recordings of their mother’s song, their heart rate dropped. The same was true of song from species relatives, while foreign bird song had no effect on heart rate.
The conclusion is that the chicks learn to recognize their mother’s sound already in the egg. Thus, from day one, outside the egg, they can both recognize the song from their own species and sing the special “password” that tells the mother that the child is hers and not a parasite that has invaded the nest.
—
As for us humans vet The researchers found that the fetus could hear, for example, voices and music in its stomach before it came into the world, but that uncultivated chicks could also receive information was surprising to ornithologists.
Until now, it has been thought that all learning about chicks begins the moment the chicks hatch from the egg.
—
