Johnson: Zebra finch song message to unhatched

It’s an iconic image – mother-to-be rocking gently in a pristine nursery, softly singing a lullaby while she lovingly caresses a protruding belly.

The communication between mother and child begins long before hands are held or smiles are exchanged and during the near-year they are building up to that big day, many an expecting mom has more than one full conversation with the little being that kicks and wiggles inside the womb.

Inseparable for all intents and purposes, they are stuck together for several months, so conversation, imagining the future and getting used to the idea of one another makes sense, makes the time pass and helps the mind adjust to the new life ahead.

Beyond the sentimental aspects of life in utero and what would seem a natural tendency to talk to the kiddo that literally spends 24/7 with mom, there is no shortage of expert guidance telling expecting parents to talk, read, and sing to their unborn babies, then talk, read, and sing some more.

Among benefits frequently cited by child experts, talking to an unborn baby helps develop a relationship with the little one, activates their tiny brains and begins intellectually stimulating them, things that will strengthen parent-child bonds and help prepare them for a life of learning.

Expert guidance may encourage and increase the motivation to talk to unborn babies, but instinct too plays a role, and, as with most things in the natural world, non-human animals do it too.

One such example can be found with zebra finches, who not only carefully incubate their precious eggs, they also sing to them.

While expecting mothers may share everything from tender songs to sage wisdom with their embryonic kiddos, the finches apparently take it one step further and communicate critical information about the outside world to their young.

Even more profound, their little ones listen and prepare.

Australian scientists studied more than 100 zebra finches and found the parents sang to the eggs when outdoor temperatures rose above 78 degrees toward the end of the incubation period.

Curious, the researchers, who published their findings a week ago, incubated control and experimental groups of eggs. They played recordings of parent songs or exposed the eggs to live parent singing while those in the control group were not exposed to the songs of the parents.

Upon hatching, the babies who’d heard the songs weighed significantly less than those that hadn’t. Not only did they emerge from their eggs much smaller in size, when it was their turn to breed, researchers found the zebra finches that had been sung to also produced more offspring.

Connecting the fact that zebra finches sang to their unhatched offspring when temperatures rose above 78 degrees and their songs led to smaller young that in turn, produced more offspring, researchers concluded the singing of the parents was a response to changes in the environment and aimed at helping the next generation succeed.

Warning their children they would be born into a hotter world triggered adaptation in the embryos and in response, the researchers surmise they emerged with lower body mass to help them to deal with higher heat. As a result, the heat adaptation allowed them to have more offspring than they would have if their parents hadn’t warned them.

It’s hard to know exactly what an infant hears while they’re floating around in there waiting to come into the world.

If zebra finches are any indication, whether comforted, amused, or plotting the course of their life-to-be in the greatest detail, it might be a good time to have a talk about the future – turns out they’re listening

Sharna Johnson is a writer who is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at:

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