CANBERRA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Australian animal behavior experts say that singing in some small birds reflects their personality and plays a critical role in both mating and territory defense.

A new study from Flinders University published on Wednesday looked at how two traits, exploration and aggressiveness, affect the songs of the small Australian birds, wild superb fairy-wrens. Both male and female fairy-wrens were studied, including young birds.

"Regardless of their sex or life stage, individuals that were more exploratory had more element types per song," said Diane Colombelli-Negrel from Flinders University, adding this might be because they learn from more birds as they explore their environment.

"Additionally, more aggressive individuals produced songs with fewer syllables, and more aggressive fledglings, but not adults, had more element types per song," she said.

Personality was measured using two behavioral tests in short-term captivity: exploration in a novel environment and aggression via mirror stimulation. After release, the birds' songs were recorded for several months to track complexity, according to the study published in Royal Society Open Science.

"Our study supports the idea that both male and female birds can advertise their personality when singing, which may be important for mate choice," Colombelli-Negrel said. Enditem

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