社交對動(dòng)物認(rèn)知能力的影響是演化生物學(xué)中一個(gè)熱門話題。在靈長類中,，有證據(jù)支持社會(huì)智能假說,，即社會(huì)環(huán)境決定能力的選擇，如估計(jì)其他個(gè)體間社會(huì)關(guān)系的能力,。盡管該話題在生物演化中具有潛在重要性,，但這一假說僅在靈長類中做過驗(yàn)證。現(xiàn)在,，對斑胸草雀（被研究得最徹底的鳴鳥）所做的一項(xiàng)研究表明，它們也能估計(jì)群體中配偶間的社會(huì)關(guān)系,。當(dāng)一只雄鳥處在未配對的同伴面前時(shí),，它對來自自己配偶的叫聲和來自其他雌鳥的叫聲反應(yīng)是一樣的。在一對配對的雄鳥和雌鳥面前,，它對自己的配偶的反應(yīng)更為強(qiáng)烈,。本期封面所示為一只雄斑胸草雀（右上,、黃色棲木）、其配偶和一些旁觀的鳥,。

Audience drives male songbird response to partner's voice

According to the social intelligence hypothesis, social context represents an important force driving the selection of animal cognitive abilities such as the capacity to estimate the nature of the social relationships between other individuals. Despite this importance, the influence of this force has been assessed only in primates and never in other animals showing social interactions. In this way, avian communication generally takes place in a network of signallers and receivers, which represents an audience altering individual signalling behaviours. Indeed, vocal amplitude and repertoire are known to be socially regulated and the attitude towards the opposite sex may change depending on the audience. This 'audience effect' provides support for the reality of social awareness in some bird species. However no evidence has yet been found to suggest that birds are able to estimate the characteristics of the social relationships between group-mates. Here we show that the male of a gregarious songbird species—the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)—pays attention to the mating status of conspecific pairs, and uses this information to control its behaviour towards its female partner.