Hello tweeties,

one question i've often been asked in whether birds experience happiness when singing. this is a question that has no real scientific answer, to the best of my knowledge. however, a paper was just published that indicates that male birds who sing for females do experience the biochemical and neural changes that underlie what is defined as "happiness" in humans who experience these same changes. so even though one can never really KNOW if these birds are aware of "happiness" the way humans are, we can say that songbirds possess the necessary neural responses that are correlated with happiness as humans know it to be. read more here;

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/10/addictive_drugs_and_social_int.php

cheers,

GrrlScientist
Devorah
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
Roosting high up a tree somewhere in Central Park, NYC