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Published online 4 June 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news070604-3
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Birds with rhythm sing scary harmonies
Pairs of magpie-larks use choral skills to intimidate rivals.
Pairs of Australian magpie-larks (Grallina cyanoleuca) that sing in tune and in tempo are more threatening to rivals whose territory they move in on than pairs that can't quite get their twittering coordinated.
Michelle Hall from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, working at the Australian National University in Canberra with Robert Magrath, listened closely to the shared songs of breeding pairs of the birds.
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