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Canaries change their tune

Nature (2001)Cite this article

Maths says bird song is as simple as muscle and breath control.

Canaries owe their complex songs to good voice control, according to a new mathematical model. By manipulating the air pressure and muscles in their vocal organ, the syrinx, birds can produce a huge repertoire of sound, Tim Gardner of Rockefeller University in New York and colleagues calculate1.

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References

  1. Gardner, T., Cecchi, G., Magnasco, M., Laje, R. & Mindlin, G. B. Simple motor gestures for birdsongs. Physical Review Letters 87, 208101 (2001).

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  1. Philip Ball
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Ball, P. Canaries change their tune. Nature (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/news011108-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news011108-2

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