The lyrebird is the reigning king of karaoke in the animal
world, with not even the birds being mimicked always able to
tell the difference between the lyrebirds and the real thing,
researchers at The Australian National University have
discovered. PhD candidate Anastasia Dalziell led the team from
the Research School of Biology, part of the ANU College of
Medicine, Biology and Environment, in the study comparing
lyrebirds’ mimicked birdcalls to the real thing. Male lyrebirds
imitate about 20 to 25 species of birds during the breeding
season. “To test the accuracy of the lyrebird’s mimicry, we
performed an acoustic analysis comparing the real songs of the
grey strike-thrush with the lyrebird’s mimicked version. Grey
shrike-thrushes sing a complex and beautiful song, but lyrebirds
can accurately mimic them all the same,” Ms Dalziell said.
However, with so many impressions of other birds’ songs,
lyrebirds have found a way to save space in their musical
repertoire. “We found that the lyrebirds were accurately re