And Your Bird Can Sing: Celine Dion (right) faces off with some sort of antbird in a battle of song. Stranger things have happened in nature.
Courtesy kookr and McflyIer (composite) via FlickrRemember how odd it felt to learn the Rolling Stones' song, I Wanna Be Your Man, was written by the Beatles' Lennon & McCartney? Or that off-putting twinge of “hmmm” you experienced when hunky hipster Tom Jones covered Kiss, a song written and originally performed by Prince (AKA The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, AKA His Glyphship, AKA The Artist, AKA Prince (again))? Or the unsettling angst brought on by Celine Dion screaming through AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long? In each case, it’s not like they were terrible renditions (I’ll leave that judgement to the music critics), but there was just something not quite right about it. They all just seemed so... unnatural.

Well, as it turns out, it may be a more common natural phenomenon than previously thought. At least in the world of birds. And I’m not talking about Roger McGuinn’s band.

Researchers at Oxford have discovered two different species of antbird in South America whistling the same territorial tune to help eliminate mating competition. They’re claiming it’s the first such discovery.

Although the two birds belong to the same family (Thamnophilidae) they are distinct species (Hypocnemis peruviana and Hypocnemis subflava). Genetic tests done by the researchers showed the two species separated from a common ancestor about three millions years ago. This means the territorial song developed before they split off from their common ancestor.

During the study (the results of which appear in the current issue of Evolution) the scientists made recordings of the songs of males of both species listen here and played them back to competitors in their territories. The reaction in each was similar.

"When we played the song of the [rival] species, the resident bird responded as aggressively as it did to its own species," said Dr Joe Tobias, who led the research along with colleague Nathalie Seddon.

Even though the territorial songs remained similar after the split, other characteristics (such as plumage color and mating calls) diverged along very different paths, and probably aid in preventing confrontation and crossbreeding between the two species.

In effect, the territorial songs of these birds are more or less interchangeable in design and function. Given that they last shared a common ancestor more than 3 million years ago, it is almost equivalent to humans and chimpanzees - which diverged around 5 million years ago - using the same language to settle disputes over resources.

– Dr. Joe Tobias in a press release

So, this kind of cross-species convergence - with different types singing the same song - may not be such an unnatural thing. But then again, Britney Spears did do a cover of the Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

SOURCES and LINKS
BBC.com story
Ecological Society of America blog
Colleen McLinn and animal communications
Some other interesting songbird behavior

Tags : zoology, songbirds, evolution, divergence, convergence, birdsongs, birds

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Thor has once again beaten me to the punch on posting a story after I've already invested more than two hours into researching and writing. Well, dang it, I'll show him. I'm posting my story anyway. Here's what I have so far:

Headed for a heart attack?: Could it be his lousy (or licey) diet, or his rigorous exercise regimen as shown here.
Courtesy Mark RyanZookeepers around the United States are becoming increasingly concerned about the rising rate of heart disease deaths among captive lowland gorillas.

The cause, an unexplained form of heart disease known as fibrosing cardiomyopathy, is a condition that converts a heart muscle into useless fibers. It’s been the main form of heart disease responsible for 41% of deaths of captive lowland gorillas living in the 52 zoos in North America. The rate of incident is even higher (70%) in male gorilla’s over 30, according to a study done in 1994.

Zookeepers are baffled. What’s causing it? Diet? Lack of exercise? Climate? Nobody knows at this point, but what is clear is that many of the 368 captive lowland gorillas could be at risk. Read a lot more about it here.

Well, there you have it. That's about as far as I got. I guess one upside of being a Johnny-Come-Lately, is that my post will top his (meaning it will appear on above his on the blogsite, and not necessarily be better than his - even though it probably is, particularly my clever photos). That will show him.

Really though, I assure you this doesn't bother me in the least. Many times, we who write for this blog will email each other to claim stories so there isn't any duplication, but that doesn't always happen, as is the case here. But really, I'm not at all upset.

Okay, I admit I sometimes get overly stressed from the "publish first or perish" mentality that's implicit working on this blogsite. My blood pressure rises, I get irritable, I start to despise the other bloggers, I neglect getting out for exercise, and I consume gallons of coffee and fast food, just so I can win and be the first to get a story up on the blogsite. But, I figure it's just part of the job.

Hey, you know what? That might make a for a good post. I think I recently read something in the paper about bloggers dying at their keyboards because of their sedentary lifestyle. I'm gonna I'll get right on that, and beat those other bloggers. Yeah!

Right after I get back from McDonalds.

Tags : zoos, zoology, lowland gorillas, health, Gorillas, animal health

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