My Science School

    Parrot’s vocal expressions are a result of imitation, not a part of its specific vocabulary.

            Man and birds share one thing in common: much of their behaviour depends on vocal and visual signals. Bird’s behaviour depends largely on vocalization and visual stimuli.

            It has been shown that birds’ syrinx (the functional equivalent of our larynx or voice box) is much simpler than that of humans. Some birds with more rudimentary syrinx can become more proficient in creating sound.

            In birds, the syrinx is located at the bottom of the trachea. Sound is produced at the syrinx as flows and the volume is controlled by muscles in the trachea. The sounds are then emitted with little or no modulation.

            Myna is also talkative: it can learn to speak more than 50 words and, in some cases, utter as many as 20 sentences. Males of almost all singing bird species are principal vocalizers and the male’s forebrains (which control their song output) have been found to be larger than those of females.

            Human vocalizations originate from the larynx at the top of the trachea. The larynx is more complex and produces relatively simple sounds.

            In addition, important changes in timbre are caused by the position and movement of the tongue, cheeks, mouth and lips.

         

 

 

 

 

 

  The energy is gathered from nectar, and the butterflies that make the trip, those born in the early fall, are able to convert nectar into fat.

            “Those born in September know to tank up on nectar,” said Dr. David Marriott, founder of the Monarch Program, a nonprofit research and education organization based in Encinitas, Calif. “Their abdomens get really large.”

            Unlike the other generations, these monarchs, he explained, have a little area of fatty tissue where the sugar of the nectar is converted into fat. They can live off this cushion in winter and need only water to rehydrate their bodies.

            Monarchs born in September or late August live seven or eight months, sometimes nine, Dr. Marriott said. Their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren live just a month.

            “By the time you get to the great-great-grandchildren it puts us back to September again,” Dr. Marriott continued. The butterflies also feed while migrating, he said.