Vocal mimicry in songbirds

许多世界上最大的鸟类分支——鸣禽——在它们的歌声中加入了声音模仿，但是尽管对声音模仿的科学兴趣可以追溯到亚里士多德，但进展有限。通过我们独特的研究项目，我们的目标是提供一个基于经验的，理论上知情的鸟类声音模仿的理解。在一个重要的进展中，我们将研究两性，以检验长期以来关于这一特征的进化起源和维持的以男性为中心的假设。至关重要的是，我们专注于只在鸣禽起源的澳大利亚和巴布亚新几内亚发现的谱系，以发展对整个鸣禽进化的声音模仿的强有力的科学理解，从而为歌曲的起源和如何开始提供一个重要的新视角。

Many of the world’s largest clade of birds - the songbirds - incorporate vocal mimicry in their songs, but while scientific interest in vocal mimicry dates from Aristotle, limited progress has been made. With our unique research program we aim to provide an empirically based, theoretically informed understanding of avian vocal mimicry. In an important advance, we will examine both sexes to test long-held male-centric assumptions about evolutionary origins and maintenance of this trait. Crucially, we focus on lineages found only in Australia and PNG, where songbirds originated, to develop a robust scientific understanding of vocal mimicry across the entire songbird clade, and so provide an important new perspective on why and how song began.