Female Bengalese finches recognize their father’s song as sexually attractive

Abstract

Birdsong is an important communication signal used in mate choice. In some songbirds, only males produce songs while females do not. Female birds are sensitive to inter- and intra-species song variation. Some aspects of female song preference depend on developmental experiences. For example, in Bengalese finches and zebra finches, adult females prefer the song to which they were exposed early in life, such as the father’s song. However, it is unclear whether such song preference in females is sexually motivated. The purpose of our study is to test if female Bengalese finches recognize their father’s song as sexually attractive. We measured copulation solicitation displays during playbacks of the father’s song vs. unfamiliar conspecific songs and found that across individuals, the father’s song elicited more displays than other songs. In addition, we analyzed if a bird’s response to a given song could be predicted by the level of similarity of that song to the father’s song. The results suggest that preference for the father’s song in this species is actually relevant to mate choice. Although more precise control is necessary in future studies to elucidate the process of preference development, our results imply the significance of early-life experience in shaping female song preference.