Parrot Vocal Sequences Across Species
Preprint · posted October 2025
This manuscript is available on bioRxiv and has not yet been peer reviewed.
Study objective
The study evaluates which generative processes reproduce observed transition, repetition, predictability, and longer-range structure in vocal sequences across six parrot species.
Comparative and modelling approach
The project analyses vocal sequences from six species in the parrot family Psittaculidae. Observed summary measures are compared with simulated sequences generated by random, Markov, hidden-Markov, and renewal processes rather than assuming a single first-order Markov model.
The selected measures quantify complementary aspects of organization, including note transitions, repetition, predictability, and longer-range sequence structure.
Results reported in the preprint
The metrics did not identify a single preferred generative model: two measures were most closely reproduced by a renewal process and two by Markov processes. Across species, several analyses nevertheless identified an elevated probability of note repetition.
The preprint therefore identifies repetition and Markov-like transition structure as complementary components of these variable sequences. Proposed relationships between repetition and individual identity, group identity, social context, or behaviour remain hypotheses requiring context-linked and receiver-response data.
Interpretation
Parrots provide a comparative system for studying sequence organization in open-ended vocal learners. Applying the same analytical framework across species helps distinguish recurrent structural properties from patterns specific to a species, recording context, or summary metric.
Research themes
Preprint
Dhati, A. M., Wewhare, N., Devasthale, N. S., Sundar, S., Parulekar, N., and Krishnan, A. (2025). Vocal sequences of diverse parrots suggest an important role for note repetition. bioRxiv. Read the preprint.