Lyrebird Song

Do you enjoy singing? I think it’s really fun to sing even if I’m not the most talented singer. However, I prefer to sing when nobody is around or when you can’t distinguish my voice in a crowd of people. My attitude towards singing is a lot different from bird species, such as the lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae), that sing to attract mates.

Lyrebirds have amazing mimicry abilities. They are able to mimic the songs of different birds they have heard and incorporate it into their own song. However, they aren’t limited to songs of other birds. Male lyrebirds will incorporate other sounds they have heard in the forest into their song in order to have a unique song that will attract females. When mimicking songs they will maintain the complex structure of songs but will not repeat elements of the songs as originally heard. There is a trade-off between the accuracy of mimicry and versatility. It has been found that there is strong selection on males that imitate accurately (Dalziell & Magrath, 2012).

When a male is trying to attract a mate it will perform a spectacular display on carefully tended mounds. They will choose positions that give them a good acoustical advantage and in cooler areas, covered in dense ground cover that is cleared for the display (Robinson & Frith, 1981). Even though the song of the lyrebird is considered to be part of its mating ritual that isn’t the case for all birds. The songs of birds can have other purposes such as being territorial. However, Murie (1962) proposed that birds, and other animals, may sing because it is aesthetically pleasing. He argued that as humans we enjoy the beats and melodies of music, not just the lyrics. With this being the case we can assume that this enjoyment can have evolutionary roots and therefore that animals may sing because it is pleasing to the ear. What do you think? Do you think that the enjoyment of music is limited to humans or do animals sing their songs because they enjoy it?

Here is a video of the lyrebird’s song:

References:

Dalziell, AH & Magrath, RD 2012, ‘Fooling the experts: accurate vocal mimicry in the song of the superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae’, Animal Behavior, vol. 83, no. 6, pp. 1401-1410, doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.03.009.

Murie,OJ 1962, ‘Why do birds sing?’, The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 74, no. 2, pp. 177-182, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4159044>.

Robinson, FN & Frith, HJ 1981, ‘The superb lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae at Tidbinbilla, ACT’, Emu, vol. 81, no. 3, pp. 145-157, doi:10.1071/MU9810145.