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The Australian zebra finch is used worldwide in several research fields (e.g. neurobiology, physiology, behaviour, ecology and evolution) as individuals are easy to maintain and breed in captivity. [12] Zebra finches are more social than many migratory birds, generally traveling in small bands and sometimes gathering in larger groups. [13]
The zebra finch genome was the second bird genome to be sequenced, in 2008, after that of the chicken. [32] The Australian zebra finch uses an acoustic signal to communicate to embryos. It gives an incubation call to its eggs when the weather is hot—above 26 °C (79 °F)—and when the end of their incubation period is near.
The ZW sex-determination system is a chromosomal system that determines the sex of offspring in birds, some fish and crustaceans such as the giant river prawn, some insects (including butterflies and moths), the schistosome family of flatworms, and some reptiles, e.g. majority of snakes, lacertid lizards and monitors, including Komodo dragons.
In one experimental population of zebra finches, there was increased singing activity by the male after breeding. [9] This increase is positively correlated with the partner's reproductive investment. The female finches were bred in cages with two subsequent males that differed with varying amounts of song output.
A notable example in birds is the zebra finch. These birds have lateralised brain structures in the face of a common steroid signal, providing strong evidence for a non-hormonal primary sex mechanism regulating brain differentiation. [26]
For these birds, there is documented evidence of homosexual behavior in one or more of the following kinds: sex, courtship, affection, pair bonding, or parenting, as noted in researcher and author Bruce Bagemihl's 1999 book Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity.
In the 1980s her research program expanded to include research in both Japanese quail and zebra finches. In the socially-monogamous zebra finches, she performed a series of parallel experiments demonstrating the effects of steroid hormones on the development sexually differentiated behaviors in these songbirds. [10] [11]
In zebra finches, a study showed the effect of food on gender ratio production. For females, egg production is a metabolically exhausting and nourishment draining process. It was found that the sex of an egg right after it has been laid and the amount of nutrients made available to a growing embryo can be determined as well.