Do you like to go outdoors in the morning, stretch your arms and listen to the birds singing? Chances are the bird sounds come from male birds. The "new" theory is that females evolved not to sing to protect their eggs and young from predators. Is is only a theory of course. There is no substantial proof.
It is supported by one case say scientists. The fairywren's clutch is considered the most likely to fall prey to a predator during breeding time because she sings constantly. This is weak proof. Birds like humans can choose to remain silent. Why hasn't she evolved to remain silent when breeding? There is a reason why fairy wren females sing while sitting on eggs. They do so to "talk" to their mates, who answers back with a similar but slightly different song.
Quail eggs were planted in the field and a recording of fairywren chatter was played back. We have a correlation folks: predators ate the eggs. The more song played the more eggs were eaten. Coincidence? Perhaps! If you bang on a can of pet food the dog comes running
◆ Biology by Ty Buchanan ◆
Australian Blog
