Vocal efficiency in crows.

ABSTRACT: Many communicative systems have been selected for efficiency, shaped by the trade-off between information transmission and energetic or temporal constraints. Linguistic laws such as Menzerath's law-predicting shorter elements in longer sequences-have emerged as widespread principles across vocal communication in many species. While these laws have been predominantly studied at the species level, the influence of individual and social factors remain underexplored. In this study, we investigated adherence to Menzerath's law in the vocal communication of carrion crows, Corvus corone corone, hooded crows, Corvus corone cornix and hybrids. Our findings show that crow call sequences adhere to Menzerath's law, with shorter calls occurring in longer sequences, demonstrating structural efficiency i

SUBMITTER: Wascher CAF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12313812 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature