Spot of Understanding - Songbirds have songs wired in

Zebra finch - Image from Wikipedia

New research findings on the singing of zebra finches could enlighten us more about how humans learn to speak. Michale Fee a researcher with MIT and his colleagues have fresh findings that show how songbirds like the zebra finch know how they ought to sing. They even have a separate region that enables these birds to identify mistakes in their songs. By monitoring the electrical activity of cells in the zebra finches while they sang the researchers found that some cells became active when they made a mistake allowing them to correct themselves, according to lead author of the report, Professor Richard Hahnloser, of the University of Zurich.

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Parroting guardian

Willie the saviour - Image from CBS4Denver

We have heard of brave dogs and even cats so far. But a parrot? Well Willie the Quaker parrot saved the life of a two year old girl by alerting others to her choking. Willie belongs to Meagan who was babysitting Hannah, in Denver, Colorado. Meagan had gone to the restroom when she heard Willie screeching and flapping his wings furiously. He started saying "mama baby" repeatedly until Meagan reached the scene, where she saw Hannah blue in the face choking on her tart. Immediately, Meagan performed the Heimlich maneuver on Hannah and recued her. She said that if Willie hadn't created such a ruckus she wouldn't have come out sooner from the bathroom and it would have been fatal for Hannah. Her mom, Samantha Kuusk, was very grateful towards both Willie and Meagan for being there in time to save Hannah's life.

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