Vocal communication in corvids

In the field of vocal communication, research has mostly focussed on birds because of their vocal learning capacity and non-human primates due to their phylogenetic proximity with humans. Both models are key to understand the driving factors in the evolution of communicative systems. Among birds, corvids occupy a large diversity of environments, and their social systems can vary, for example in the number of social bonds individuals maintain, which, according to the socio-complexity hypothesis, could influence characteristics of vocal communication.

Despite more than 40 years of research on the behaviour and cognition of corvids, their potential value as an alternative model to primates in understanding the evolution of vocal communication has only emerged recently. Understanding and measuring various characteristics of vocal production and perception of signals could be key to further understand the evolution of sociality as well as cognition in different taxa. Further, understanding of vocal communication can also aid conservation efforts for species of conservation concern.

In the proposed Special Collection, we aim to synthesize current knowledge and develop a joint vision for the future direction of research on evolutionary drivers of vocal complexity and cognitive underpinnings of vocal communication.

For more details, please read our submission guidelines. Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published. The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer-review process. The peer-review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.