Budgies' brain reveals the secrets of human speech

Budgies' brain reveals the secrets of human speech

Several bird species are capable of imitating human speech. Some songbirds, corvids, and parrots also produce vocalizations to communicate. But how they do this and whether they do so in a similar way to humans has been a mystery. Now, a study with budgerigars published in Nature has begun to unravel the mystery: they have a series of neurons specifically dedicated to activating their vocal organs. Some of these neurons are so specialized that they control the intonation of their songs or the pitch of their calls. They accomplish this with a different part of their brain, but otherwise, the mechanism is the same as in humans.

Seguir leyendo