Singing lessons for birds could help to save koalas, shows new research

08 January 2023 , 22:36

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Critically endangered Australian Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera phrygia) (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

It has been a bleak start to the year so far.

Seven countries have already recorded their warmest January temperatures – one of the most severe winter heatwaves in Europe’s modern history.

Just days later the Met Office confirmed that 2022 was the UK’s hottest year on record, with an average temperature of 10C recorded for the first time.

This was 160 times more likely due to climate change.

Another study just released warns how half of the world’s glaciers will be gone by 2100, even under the Paris 1.5C agreement.

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At least half of that loss will happen in the next 30 years under the most optimistic scenario.

The Met Office confirmed that 2022 was the hottest year on record (stock image) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

But hope can be sought from a group of scientists who have been giving singing lessons to a critically endangered species of bird.

The regent honeyeater, an Australian songbird, was fading into extinction after habitat destruction saw numbers drop to just 300.

As fathers do not sing until they have chased their offspring away from the nest, young male birds must learn their love songs from other adults in the flock.

As teachers are becoming rarer, researchers last year discovered that juveniles had resorted to copying the songs of other species as there were not enough adult males to learn from.

But their imitations of what should have been a soft, chiming song were so bad that female regent honeyeaters were rejecting them – a phenomenon never observed among wild species before.

Now young males have been enrolled in a singing school where they are played 16hr-long tapes of songs from wild captured regents in zoos through loudspeakers.

“We have a different version of that tape for every day of the week so hopefully it appears more natural,” said Dan Appleby, a conservation biologist at the Australian National University.

So far the results of the singing lessons have been encouraging, say the researchers.

The project will not only give the species a boost but also help maintain forests of eucalyptus trees through pollination, providing food and habitat for many other native animals such as endangered koalas.

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Beaver's new mate

A new mate has been found for a bereaved beaver (stock photo) (SWNS.com)

A new mate has been found for a bereaved beaver after his first partner disappeared.

The pair were imported from Germany and released into an enclosure in the Forest of Dean in 2018 to help reduce flooding in the area.

But tragedy struck last summer when the female went missing, and after extensive searches, ecologists concluded she was probably dead.

Forestry England said the new beaver from Scotland seemed to be settling well into her new Gloucestershire home.

Nada Farhoud