Zebra Finch

Taeniopygia guttata

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The zebra finch is a small Australian estrildid finch, the male wearing orange cheeks, a barred breast and chestnut flanks flecked with white. It is the laboratory bird par excellence in the study of vocal learning: along with humans, a few birds and a few mammals, it learns its song from a tutor during a critical window in development, a parallel with language acquisition that has made it a neuroscientific model.

Weight

10 g – 16 g

Size

10 cm – 11 cm

Lifespan

7 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

DesertGrasslandHerbivore Diurnal Colonial Bird Desert Grassland

3countries2same family

Fun facts

comunicaciónYoung males learn their song by copying an adult tutor during a critical window in development, and the process has become one of the most widely used scientific models for the study of vocal learning.
It is the standard model for studying how speech is learnt: the chick memorises a tutor's song during a critical window and then practises it for weeks until it can reproduce it, a process with direct parallels to human babbling.
The parents sing to the eggs when it is hot: chicks that hear that call hatch smaller and cope better with high temperatures, a documented case of prenatal programming by sound.
Its wild populations can breed at any time of year: in the Australian desert, rain alone is enough to set them breeding.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Arid scrub, spinifex savanna and farmed country in the Australian interior
Sexual maturity: 2 months
Gestation / incubation: 14 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 5 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taeniopygia_guttata