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CCTV International www.cctv.com 065438+20061October 65438+March 2006 18:30 Source: CCTV.com.
Moderator: Hello everyone, welcome to today's video zone. As the saying goes, people can talk, animals can talk and birds have their own different languages. So are the vocal organs of birds the same as ours? What do birds want to express in words? Besides language, what other means do birds have to express their feelings? If birds from different countries and regions come together, can they understand each other's songs? These questions will be answered in today's program.
Moderator: Students, I want to ask now, if you are at home, for example, you like watching a TV program very much, and now you want to tell your parents to let them agree to watch it. How to express it?
Student: I will definitely tell my parents to use my language first.
Student: discuss it. If you don't agree, start begging there.
Moderator: What about birds?
Student: Bird language
Moderator: In bird language, it's very good. What do you think bird language will be like?
Student: The sound of birds.
Compere: Do you think you are learning English now?
Student: Yes, I can understand foreigners.
Compere: You say, bird, can different countries understand each other?
Student: I should be able to understand. The other party can understand the birds.
Moderator: I can understand, can everyone understand? No matter which country you come from, I can understand. So when it comes to bird communication, can students have other ways besides language?
Student: Flying around.
Moderator: What should I do if I can't fly?
Student: You can hit it with its feathers and wings.
Moderator: We listened to Cheng explain how birds communicate.
Wencheng: Just now, this classmate said a word called bird language, which is well used. In fact, we can speak languages. Broadly speaking, whether we are human beings or animals, we all have a set of ways to transmit information to each other. I want the other person, whether the same or different, to know what kind of ideas and behavior system you want to express before it can be called language. Including our spoken language, sign language, gestures and body language. In fact, birds have richer contents such as oral language and body language, which is of course related to the special physiological conditions of birds. Of course, when people talk about birds, the first thing that comes to mind is that they have a beautiful song. The song of birds is the most important part of bird language, but let's not talk about it. Let's start with something more basic and unique in birds, starting with feathers.
Moderator: Let's guess how feathers convey information.
Student: Feathers that eat well look good, but feathers that eat badly don't look good.
Student: In feathers, it may have that kind of nervous system on its skin, and it may spread out through feathers. Information in its own body.
Wencheng: In fact, the information transmitted by birds from feathers can be roughly divided into two categories. An objectively reflected nutritional status, as the children said just now, is very important. Some birds deliberately add information to their feathers, that is to say, the information it reflects objectively reflects several information. Many birds have different genders and different coat colors, and their male and female feathers look different. In this way, their companions can clearly recognize their gender from far away. One more thing, its nutritional status is different, and the growth status of this feather is also different. Of course, apart from color, the texture of feathers is the same, and sometimes they can be used by birds to convey information. There is a tropical bird called the broad-billed bird. When it flies, it will make a very sharp sound. That sound is not caused by its barking, but by the friction of its feathers after it flies. Just because it doesn't bark very well, so in order to attract the opposite sex, try to make some sounds.
[Video: Broad-billed Birds]
Wencheng: Birds sometimes use some external objects to show their existence or send a message, most obviously like woodpeckers. Woodpeckers are the kind of birds that can sing, but they can't sing very well. Its singing is monotonous. When courting or announcing the existence of its territory, it will peck at wood, and some species will peck at a trunk, or peck at the dead branches of a trunk, making a very loud sound to show its existence. Its rhythm is different, and its meaning is actually different.
[Video: Using Tools to Make Sounds]
Moderator: Now let's talk about it. Since none of them are mainstream, let's talk about mainstream things. Tell me the most important thing. What is the most important thing in us? The brain is important, right? The most important thing in interpersonal communication is language, right? You can understand what I said, and I can understand what you said, so are we done communicating? So birds, now let's talk about the language of birds. As far as your so-called bird talk is concerned, what kind of birds can you usually see?
Student: Crows, sparrows and pigeons.
Moderator: Ask our raccoon, how many bird languages do you know?
Student: There is only one kind, crow.
Student: I know the cuckoo's voice.
[short film: all kinds of interesting birds chirping]
Moderator: Birds can make so many pleasant calls, so what are their vocal organs? Are they like us?
Student: Not the same.
Moderator: Why?
Student: Because when I hear a crow calling it, it seems that it can only, like this sound, one person speaks one or two different voices.
Host: Does it have a tape?
Student: I think there should be. Without vocal cords, how does it sound? It should be a bit like a person.
Wencheng: Actually, what my classmates said just now is still a little irrelevant. First of all, the vocal organs of birds, the main vocal organs, are similar to the vocal cords of mammals, but in birds, they are called sound tubes, which are wrapped around the trachea. People rely on those muscles, which affect vocalization, while birds rely on the vocal tube, which vibrates with its trachea when breathing and singing, a bit like the structure of a horn and its cavity.
[Video: Birds Singing]
Wencheng: Some birdsong tubes are very developed. Many syllables can be produced only by changing and moving the birdsong tube. It doesn't need the cooperation of tongue. For example, larks and robins are very famous birds, and their songs are very beautiful. That's the case. It mainly depends on the sounding tube and chest. Birds like cranes, with well-developed horns, have circled several times in their chests. The structure of this vibrating cavity can make it emit a very rich and penetrating sound, which is very important for this big bird to keep in touch in a long distance in the air when it migrates.
[Video: The Call of Large Migratory Birds]
Film editing
[Video: The Meaning of Birds Singing]
Wencheng: There are many birds with rich songs that people are familiar with, and the meanings of their songs are relatively complicated. The most common point is that singing is mostly related to reproduction, which means that it conveys a message during the breeding season. One means it's here, and its continuous barking means it's healthy. This kind of bird can now be called songbirds. The most basic song of this bird, during the breeding period, this song and its internal body structure have great influence not only on the vocal structure, but also on its nervous structure. Because why? In the breeding season, it will stimulate the distribution of hormones in the body to change because of the length of sunshine and the length of sunshine. When these hormones reach a level, they will stimulate the brain related to singing and become active. By that time, the part of its brain responsible for singing will be several times larger than usual, that is, its whole brain is changing, that is, after the brain changes, a series of corresponding nervous systems will also change.
Moderator: Big or not?
Wencheng: Yes, the bigger the volume, the bigger the whole brain. The brain capacity remains the same, but its part has become bigger, that is, the part responsible for its singing has become bigger. If that part gets bigger, it will directly affect its motor nerve. As far as the nerve it calls is concerned, it makes its singing tube more complicated and can make more sounds.
Wencheng: Many songbirds have to learn how to call, although the brain changes, vocal tube changes and hardware changes are congenital. This is acquired behavior. Many young male birds don't know how to call it in the first year. It must have its own kind. Where there are elders and fathers, it listens to this call (voice). After listening for a while, it will learn. It's just that when it was young, it was not like us. This kind of learning ability can run through life. It only has this ability when it reaches a certain age, such as one or two years old. It quickly learned the voice of parents, and it not only learned, but also added some of its own style, so it is personalized. You think ten miles is different, because birds' songs are actually personalized things, so it is said that they are in this area and probably listen to the same song. It learned this tune, so this area is similar, but the distance may be different. After a long time, it will become two completely different singing systems. Like this songbird, it only uses this kind of euphemistic singing behavior in the breeding season. Its language can be said to have obvious regional characteristics. In many cases, this regional feature leads to the differentiation of its population.
Moderator: Will this happen again in modern times?
Wencheng: It has been happening, it has been happening.
Moderator: How many years will this process take?
Wencheng: Just like a generation of birds. Usually, small songbirds like this only come out once a year. Sometimes, like the visual range of our lives, this kind of situation will happen in the past few decades, especially on the island.
[Video: Talking Parrot]
Wencheng: The familiar talking birds, such as myna and parrot, actually learned to speak because of this language system. Because these birds usually live in a community, birds of different families gather in a large group, and then they feed together, sharing food sources, food quantities, food types or potential natural enemies around them, and it must be quickly transmitted between groups, which is conducive to its response to sudden changes and the survival of this group. /So after the bird leaves the nest. The first thing it does when it enters the group. Is to be able to tell. First, distinguish its relatives. And the cry of a bird that is not related to it. Different bird calls represent different meanings, just like we children learn to speak. Why starling and parrot can learn to speak, just because at a certain stage, when it is a few months old, it should learn its own bird language. We artificially separate it from birds and raise it in an environment where only people talk. At that time, it was just in the learning stage. It took all acceptable sounds as the language it wanted to learn, and it wrote it down. So you call every day. In fact, it treats you like a bird, so it writes down your tone and syllables, and then repeats the imitation, and a group of birds call out. In fact, in the end, it was very tragic for itself, because it learned not bird language but human language. In the world of birds, no bird can understand what it says.
Wencheng: Then there is another kind of bird, which not only calls during the breeding season, but also calls at ordinary times. Like this bird, its sound is more meaningful. Like our common thrush, starling and parrot, these calls contain more complicated factors. Take the field thrush in Europe as an example. As soon as a thrush sees a crow and an eagle approaching its nest, it will make a special squeaking sound. When its neighbors hear this sound, they will gather and attack the invaders together. This voice actually conveys two aspects of information. On the one hand, it means danger. On the other hand, the cluster, its tone, and the tone it makes when you see different birds invade its nest area are different.
Moderator: We still have to see, just like the reaction of our army. When a foreign enemy strikes, the first thing is an emergency assembly, followed by the incoming air force and army, how many people came and which troops came.
Wencheng: After research, it is found that if a cat comes and a crow comes, its voice is obviously different, because like a cat, the bird's nest is on a very thin branch, and the cat may not be able to get up. It is mostly a symbolic alarm, and it does not have the meaning of assembly. If a crow comes, the crow is also a bird and can fly, so it is easy to eat its eggs in the nest. So its different calls contain the meaning of clustering, so let everyone get together to get rid of this egg thief, which is what it means.
Moderator: Now, students can think again. What did he just list? Birds can talk, that is, they can communicate in their own language. Have you considered any other circumstances besides what he said? At this time, the bird will open its mouth and sing?
Student: I think the first one, I chose courtship, that is, when looking for a spouse, it will make its own voice. The second is to call for help. When the enemy came, he was in a hurry, and the sound he made should be a cry for help. Another way is to find relatives, that is, if you get lost and cry, your family may recognize your son's crying and come to him.
Moderator: It's interesting to find relatives and see our female classmates.
Student: I think first of all, when it calls the police, it will definitely warn its companions that there is danger here, and it will chirp. Then, as the classmates said, they will make a certain sound when courting. I think there may be some conversations between birds, that is, everyone chats, and this phenomenon may exist.
Wencheng: Actually, the children have written all the information just now, and they are also looking for relatives who didn't say it just now. This little classmate proposed it. In fact, birds, for many kinds of birds, singing actually runs through their lives. This is a very useful way of communication. For example, when birds are still in eggs, in fact, many kinds of birds will sing at some time or three or four days before they hatch. Especially like the familiar chickens and birds, this kind of bird is called early adult bird, which means that after it hatches, it will walk around and feed itself. Generally, when it is in the eggshell, it can already sing, and then at that time, it sings in the shell, not only spontaneously, but also the mother and parents in the nest at that time. Parent birds will subconsciously guide these birds to call. As far as parent birds are concerned, they listen to the calls of young birds in eggs. In fact, before the bird comes out of its shell and doesn't see its children, it remembers its children first, and then constantly teaches these children the information of its voice. In fact, it is similar to the process of prenatal education, so that these birds can find it by finding the voice when they are born. In fact, when I found my parents, I found my safety, my hope of life and made a preparatory work.
Moderator: OK, so Wen Cheng told us so much today. Now let me think about the question we asked at the beginning. Is it possible for birds' languages to be divided into different nationalities like us? Can the language that birds of different nationalities gather together make sense?
Wencheng: That's clear.
Wencheng: I think the general meaning may be understandable. As for what to say specifically, it may be because of regional differences, different populations, or (incomprehensible).
Student: I don't think we should look at nationality, we should look at varieties. I think it should be China Magpie and American Eagle. Of course they don't understand.
Compere: Even China Magpie and China Eagle may not understand it.
Student: If you look at the variety, you should at least be able to understand it. If China magpies and American eagles, they certainly don't understand at all.
Wencheng: Actually, all the students' answers to this question will be correct as soon as they are integrated. It depends on the species, which means that asking this question in this case is actually a bit like a brain teaser. In fact, it can understand the birds that have been with it. As I said just now, if the courtship call is like that, different birds can easily be separated from each other, but this group of birds that transmit social information is universal to some extent. For example, it is also a 911 call. You put an alarm phone of a China magpie on the west coast of the United States, give it to that magpie, and it will respond. It may not know, you said that China magpies have eagles and cats, but it called the police in a different way. It went to America, and the American magpie didn't necessarily know whether it was an eagle or a cat, but it knew it was an alarm.
Moderator: It seems that SOS is universal.
Wencheng: Yes, this one is universal.
Moderator: OK, now after explaining it to us through Wencheng, we find the bird world.
This is very strange in itself. Similarly, their language, various vocal mechanisms, including their vocal purpose and so on. Although they are similar to us in many places, there are indeed great differences, but the main purpose of any kind of voice is to communicate. Then in the next program, we will continue to invite Wencheng to discuss some topics about birds with us. All right, friends, see you next time.