News Animals

Drumming woodpeckers use similar brain regions as songbirds

The complex behaviors may have a shared evolutionary origin

image of a downy woodpecker (gray body, black and white wings, and a red crest) pecking a tree

Downy woodpeckers (Dryobates pubescens) like this one drum rapidly on trees and gutters to compete for territory. A new study has shown that this behavior involves regions in the brain that closely resemble brain regions used by songbirds to learn songs.

Mary Keim/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

By Darren Incorvaia

- More than 2 years ago

Songbirds get a lot of love for their dulcet tones, but drummers may start to steal some of that spotlight.