Birds communicate like humans

Scientists have discovered the first bird species that can string sounds together to communicate, opening up future research into the evolution of human communication.

The little babbler knows how to string sounds together to communicate. Photo: Mirro Daily

Fox News reported on July 2 that a research team discovered that a small Australian babbler, scientifically named Pomatostomus ruficeps, has the ability to string together sounds to convey information.

The researchers listened to their sounds. These babblers don't sing, instead they make "discrete calls, composed of small, distinct individual sounds," said Sabrina Engesser, lead author of the study.

Two sounds identified as "A" and "B" are repeated continuously. For example, they use "AB" to announce their location to others while flying (the announced birds will look up at the sky); or "BAB" is used to call young birds to feeding time (the young birds will look into the nest).

"Although the calls are very similar in structure, they are used in completely different contexts, and the individuals who hear them are able to understand them," explains Simon Townsend, a member of the research team and an expert at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

It's a basic communication pattern, says Dr Andy Russell, of the University of Exeter in the UK. It's easier to swap out existing sounds than to create new ones, he says.

The researchers believe that the “B” sound in the sound sequence helps differentiate the meaning of the calls. In other words, it's like the letter “C” makes the difference between “CAT” and “AT” in English.

Such distinguishing elements are called phonemes, and this basic example “may help us understand the ways in which new information was transmitted in the evolution of human communication,” says one expert.

"It is very likely that our ancestors also began communicating using this monosyllabic structure," Russel concludes.

According to VnExpress