31/10/2026
How interesting š
Researchers at Deakin University in Australia noticed that zebra finch parents made a particular call while sitting on their eggs, and only under two conditions: when the air temperature was above about 26 degrees Celsius, and only in the final third of incubation, when the embryos are developed enough to hear.
To test whether the eggs were listening, they recorded the calls and played them to eggs in an incubator. Some eggs heard ordinary adult contact calls. Others heard the hot call.
The chicks that heard the hot call grew differently. They developed more slowly and hatched smaller, and a smaller body sheds heat more efficiently. Then the team tracked those birds as adults and found they went on to produce more offspring than the birds that had not heard it.
The lead author summed up the message as, it's hot babies, get prepared.
A later study confirmed wild zebra finches do it too, not just birds in aviaries.
The parents are sending a weather forecast through the shell. š¦
Source: Science (2016), Deakin University, Scientific Reports
