Birdsong is not all about sexual selection: Female birds sing much more often than previously thought

In 71% of all songbird species with available data, the female sings too. This is remarkable because in the wake of Darwin's theory of evolution, birdsong has generally been seen as a characteristic of male birds, allowing them to compete with other males and attract females.

Leiden biologist Katharina Riebel published this finding on 4 March in Nature Communications, together with an international team.

Message to Darwin: Birdsong is not all about sexual selection 

The team studied the available literature on the song of female songbirds. This resulted in the first worldwide survey and the first study of song in females of primitive songbird species.

The team used a genetic databank to map the characteristics and evolution of these female songbirds. Their analysis shows that in the common ancestors of modern songbirds of both males and females must have had song. Leiden biologist Riebel says that 'the origin of birdsong must therefore lie not only in sexual selection and competition among males, as suggested by Darwin. It seems more probable that sexual and social selection also played a role in females: song allowed both males and females to compete for the resources necessary for survival and reproduction.'

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