Lyrebirds mimicking chainsaws: fact or lie?

["Philip Veerman" <>]

The article David referred to is quite well done. It covered the main information. My belief on it is that they don't appear to use mimicry for their own communication. It functions mainly to create sound and show how good they are, rather than convey meaning. They use their own calls for their own communication. They don't appear to use mimicry to communicate with other species, even if these other species may react to the mimicry. Many of their own sounds are similar to some mechanical sounds. I am still sceptical about the truth of wild Lyrebirds mimicking chainsaws and similar stuff but wouldn't be game to call it a lie. If young birds hear these sounds at the same time that they are listening to and learning the mimicry calls of their parents and nearby other lyrebirds, I don't know why it wouldn't happen.

 

Philip

 

On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 5:10 PM, David McDonald (personal) <> wrote:

Hi

I found this article on http://theconversation.com/ that you might like: "Lyrebirds mimicking chainsaws: fact or lie?"

http://theconversation.com/lyrebirds-mimicking-chainsaws-fact-or-lie-22529

David

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David McDonald