Adventure Ausrama Blog

Until recently the earliest language pathway was believed to have originated 5 million years ago. However, it seems that the auditory system was evolving toward language in nonhuman primates 25 million years ago. This conclusion was reached after brain scans of humans, apes and monkeys. The auditory system found in other primates is an evolutionary forerunner of the human language pathway. Therefore, there is a clear evolutionary path toward auditory cognition and vocal communication. Language capability is nascent in nonhuman primates. Proof of early language development was there all the time but was never understood before. Analysis of the human brain shows a strong structure on the left side of the language pathway. The right side has changed from what it was in other primates: it has diverged into non-auditory parts of the brain. It is now believed that the path to language capability began more than 25 million years, probably in preprimate animals. Brain scans of n...

Birds "talk" to each other, between species! For, example it was found that fairy-wrens learn the alarm calls of other types of bird. These birds have calls with similar acoustic structures. And they learn by living side by side with other birds over time. Alarm calls of scrubwrens were played to wrens in Canberra and Macquarie. Only fairy-wrens in Canberra (where there are scrubwrens ) fled for cover. Fairy wrens in Macquarie (where there are no scrubwrens) did not respond. In another test, recordings of honeyeaters were also played to fairy-wrens. The fairy-wrens sought cover.  They had learned the honeyeater calls. Professor Gisela Kaplan believes that the behavior is not totally due to learning. She believes that the brains of birds are preprogrammed to act when they hear alarms of other birds. Tests done on magpies showed that they found cover only if the alarm calls of other birds were played close to them. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www...