By Olamide Francis
A test of songbirds’ problem-solving skills has revealed how traffic noise impairs the animals’ abilities.
Scientists set zebra finches a “battery of foraging tasks” in the presence or absence of the noise.
They found that the sound of passing cars diminished the birds’ ability to find food.
The results, published in the journal Proceedings B, suggest that noise pollution has “previously unconsidered consequences for wildlife”.
Prof Christopher Templeton from Pacific University in Oregon, US, led the study, which he carried out in a behavioural lab with zebra finches. The researchers set the birds the tasks both in a quiet setting and while a recording of road traff…