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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 13, 2025

Evaluation of Auditory Brainstem Response in Chicken Hatchlings

Evaluation of Auditory Brainstem Response in Chicken Hatchlings

Published on: April 1, 2022

Vocal efficiency in crows.

Claudia A F Wascher¹, Mason Youngblood²

¹Behavioural Ecology Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. claudia.wascher@gmail.com.

Animal Cognition

|July 31, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Crow vocalizations follow Menzerath's law, showing efficiency with shorter calls in longer sequences. Individual traits like sex and age, not social factors, influence this vocal efficiency in crows.

Keywords:

Carrion crows Communicative efficiency Hooded crows Hybrids Linguistic laws Vocal communication

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Area of Science:

Animal Communication
Bioacoustics
Linguistic Laws

Background:

Communicative systems evolve for efficiency, balancing information transfer with constraints.
Menzerath's law, predicting shorter elements in longer sequences, is observed in species-level vocalizations.
Individual and social influences on Menzerath's law in animal communication are understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate Menzerath's law adherence in crow vocalizations (Corvus corone corone, Corvus corone cornix, and hybrids).
To explore the impact of individual characteristics and social variables on Menzerath's law in carrion crows.

Main Methods:

Analysis of crow call sequences for adherence to Menzerath's law.
Correlation analysis of call sequences with individual (sex, age) and social factors (group size, dominance, relationships) in carrion crows.

Main Results:

Crow call sequences demonstrate adherence to Menzerath's law, indicating structural efficiency.
Stronger adherence to Menzerath's law was observed in male and younger carrion crows.
No significant effect of group size, dominance, or affiliative relationships on Menzerath's law adherence was found.

Conclusions:

This study presents the first evidence of Menzerath's law in corvid vocal communication.
Individual traits, rather than social dynamics, appear to shape vocal efficiency in crows.
Findings suggest that individual characteristics influence vocal efficiency, prompting further research into ontogeny and flexibility in social species.