Birds Can Get Drunk, Too, Study Shows

An overly noisy bird can certainly be obnoxious but did you know it could also be drunk, too? Recent findings published in the journal PLOS ONE have found that after drinking even small amounts of liquor, birds actually slurred their songs and chirps with a distinctly drunken vibe.

For the study, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University analyzed the zebra finches that were intentionally intoxicated during the study. They discovered that the acoustic structures of their learned songs were altered due to the drink. Zebra finches were chosen as the subjects for the study as researchers said the birds learn a song "in a manner analogous to how humans learn speech."

The study authors gave one group of birds simple white grape juice to drink, while they gave another group juice spiked with ethanol. The second group displayed signs of intoxication by singing loudly and losing tempo quite quickly.

"There are remarkable analogies in how zebra finch song and human speech are learned and produced" said the study authors.

With future research, they noted that they hope these and other studies can help them comprehend how birdsong could potentially translate to a better understanding of neural processes involved with human speech. Yet unlike humans, this did not inhibit the birds' ability to fly or move.

"We did not detect visible effects on the birds' general behaviors or health, as indicated by the normal appearance of feathers and the ability to perch, feed, maintain normal posture and fly inside the cage" the study authors concluded.

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