Compulsory singing lessons give endangered birds a boost

It was the saddest of swansongs – a beloved Australian bird, the regent honeyeater, was fading to extinction because young males were not being taught to sing, so could no longer attract a mate.

Scientists discovered last year that juveniles among the critically endangered breed had resorted to copying the songs of other species because there were no longer enough adult males to pass on their soft, chiming love song. However, their imitations were so bad that female regent honeyeaters were rejecting them – a phenomenon never observed before among wild animal species.

Now, scientists have enrolled young males of the species in singing school, with captured wild adults as teachers – and the results are a hit with females. The teaching trial in a zoo is aided by 16-hour recordings of wild regents singing, played through loudspeakers in aviaries.

Fathers do not sing until they have chased their offspring away from the nest, so young male birds must learn their love songs from other adults in the flock. But teachers are scarce.

Until the mid-20th century, thousands of regent honeyeaters moved throughout southeast Australia in search of nectar and other plant sugars. But the loss of 85% of their woodland habitat to land clearing, mainly for farming, and to fires has caused the population to crash to fewer than 300 wild birds, distributed sparsely over an area the size of Italy.

The decline of the birds also affects other plants and animals. Regent honeyeaters help to maintain forests of eucalyptus trees through pollination, providing food and habitat for many other native species.