Birdtalk

Scientists have discovered that Japanese great tits use sentences to communicate important messages.

10:39 10 March 2016

Scientists have found that birds, just like human beings, can form sentences too.

 

Based on their study, Japanese great tits combine their calls using specific rules to communicate important compound messages.

 

This small bird species experiences a number of threats and they give a variety of different calls for their own protection.

 

The calls can be used alone or in combinations with other calls.

 

Using playback experiments, scientists found that ABC calls meant “scan for danger” while D calls meant “come here.” When scientists combined both calls, the birds approached and scan for danger.

 

Dr David Wheatcroft at Uppsala University said: “This study demonstrates that syntax is not unique to human language, but also evolved independently in birds.

 

“Understanding why syntax has evolved in tits can give insights into its evolution in humans.”