Birds are able to learn new 'languages' as part of conservation programs. Study focused on chiral gibbons, a subspecies of the gibbon whose chicks have been moved from Devon to Cornwall.
Because gibbon chicks learn'songs' from adults, scientists tested whether the transplanted chicks could develop the chirping pattern characteristic of the region to which they were transplanted. Study suggests that the cultural "bottleneck" from moving birds between regions can be temporary, and resolved as the population grows.