How Birdsong and Human Speech are Related: Genes are the Key

Scientists have known for years that the singing behavior of birds is similar to speech in humans. Now, though, researchers have conducted a genetics study to find out how these features are related, which could shed a bit more light on the origins of human speech.

In this case, the researchers sequenced and compared the entire genomes of 48 species of birds representing every major order of the bird family tree. This showed that vocal learning evolved twice or maybe even three times among songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds.

So what did they find? It turns out that there's a consistent set of just over 50 genes that show higher or lower activity in the brains of vocal learning birds and humans. These changes were not found in the brains of birds that do not have vocal learning, and of non-human primates that don't speak. What's more interesting is that the set of genes involved in song innovations is remarkably similar to the genes involved in human speaking ability.

"This means that vocal learning birds and humans are more similar to each other for these genes in song and speech brain areas than other birds and primates are to them," said Erich Jarvis, one of the researchers, in a news release. "You can find those same genes in the genomes of all species, but they're active at much higher or lower levels in the specialized song or speech brain regions of vocal learning birds and humans. What this suggests to me is that when vocal learning evolves, there may be a limited way in which the brain circuits can evolve."

The findings reveal a bit more about how birdsong and human speech are related. More specifically, it looks as if birds and humans both use similar genes when it comes to communication. This, in turn, may make bird models organisms for helping answer questions about human speech.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

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