An endangered bird is forgetting its song

Just as humans learn languages, animals learn behaviours crucial for survival from older individuals of the same species. In this way, important ‘cultures’ such as bird songs are passed from one generation to the next.

But global biodiversity loss means that many animal populations are becoming small and sparsely distributed. This jeopardises the ability of young animals to learn important behaviours.

Nowhere is this more true than in the case of the regent honeyeater (), a critically endangered, nectar-feeding songbird endemic to south-eastern Australia. A recent paper by Australian National University (ANU) scientists describes how a population crash to fewer than 300 has caused the species’ song culture to break