The Australian superb lyrebird can imitate almost any sound it has ever heard — chainsaws, camera shutters, car alarms, the calls of more than 20 other species — with enough accuracy that the birds being imitated often can’t tell the difference

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When researchers at the Australian National University played recordings of superb lyrebird mimicry to grey shrike-thrushes, the shrike-thrushes responded to the fakes much as they would to one of their own. As lead author Anastasia Dalziell put it, “Surprisingly, strike-thrushes approached the speaker broadcasting mimicked songs as well as the shrike-thrushes’ own song.” The superb [...] The post The Australian superb lyrebird can imitate almost any sound it has ever heard — chainsaws, camera shutters, car alarms, the calls of more than 20 other species — with enough accuracy that the birds being imitated often can’t tell the difference appeared first on Space Daily .