Is the Capacity for Vocal Learning in Vertebrates Rooted in Fish Schooling Behavior?
The capacity to learn and reproduce vocal sounds has evolved in phylogenetically distant tetrapod lineages. Vocal learners in all these lineages express similar neural circuitry and genetic factors when perceiving, processing, and reproducing vocalization, suggesting that brain pathways for vocal learning evolved within strong constraints from a common ancestor, potentially fish. We hypothesize th
