Birdsong Decoded: Scientists reveal birds use the same communication code as humans

Birdsong Study Finds Birds Follow Human Language Efficiency (Image: Canva)

Anyone who listens to birds knows their calls vary. Each species has its own sound, much like humans use language. Now researchers say the similarities go even further.

Birds follow brevity law in songs
A team from the University of Manchester has found that birds favour short notes over longer ones, mirroring a well-known rule of human speech. The principle, known as Brevity Law or Zipf’s Law of Abbreviation, states that frequently used words are shorter for efficiency. The team, led by Dr Tucker Gilman, worked with Chester Zoo to test if birds use this same linguistic shortcut.

Analysing hundreds of bird songs
Birds are harder to study than humans because individuals in the same species often vary widely. To address this, scientists developed a computational tool named ZLAvian. It examined over 600 songs from seven bird species across 11 populations. The findings showed the most common bird phrases were consistently shorter, matching Zipf’s Law in human language.

The discovery highlights how efficient communication may be a universal pattern across species. Co-author Dr Rebecca Lewis of Chester Zoo said the tool could help other researchers study language efficiency in more birds and even other animals.