Determining the role of introductory notes preceding the male zebra finch song in female preference in male-female interactions

Abstract

The male zebra finch’s courtship song, consisting of introductory notes and motifs, is widely studied by neuroethologists. While many properties of motifs have been discovered, little is known about the introductory notes and much lesser about their role. It is known that introductory gestures across many species have a role in communication. In zebra finches, introductory notes preceding the song have been hypothesised to have a role in preparatory activity before song initiation. My thesis aims to find whether introductory notes in the song of the male zebra finch have a role in communication. More specifically, we want to see if the introductory notes play a role in the female preference of the courtship song. Two paradigms were employed to test female zebra finches’ behavioural responses to different stimuli made from male zebra finch’s song. They were A. Call response assay and B. Perch hop assay. It was found that the females call more to a song consisting of both introductory notes and motifs, where the introductory notes precede the motifs, ie, the presence of introductory notes and the order of the song are both important in female preference. However, the average difference in the number of calls for the different stimuli was small (~0.4 calls). Familiarity with the song did not change the trends in call responses of the females. There were no differences in perch hopping for the different stimuli which can be explained by a preference for perch positions. Overall, the results of the call response assay show a preference for songs containing introductory notes before motif. However, no preference was observed in the perch hop assay possibly due to preferences associated with the perch positions.