Untutored song, reproductive success and song learning

Abstract

Abstract. Female zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, from one population were given a choice between males from their own population reared in aviaries, males from a different population reared in aviaries, or males from their own population reared without adult song tutors. Aviary-reared males from the same population as the females had higher reproductive success than did untutored males from the same population or aviary-reared males from a different population. Salience as a song model was related to the song type of the adult male as well as to the total number of young the adult male fledged. All male offspring copied significantly more syllables from their fathers' songs than from others' songs, but the sons of untutored males were the least likely to copy syllables from males other than their father. Young males copied qualities characteristic of untutored song both from their fathers and from other males. Although untutored song was associated with inferior reproductive success, it was accepted by young males as a valid song model.