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Why don't cockatoos have war songs?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Cody Moser Open the ORCID record for Cody Moser [Opens in a new window] ,
Jordan Ackerman ,
Alex Dayer ,
Shannon Proksch  and
Paul E. Smaldino
Cody Moser
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA. cmoser2@ucmerced.edu jackerman2@ucmerced.edu adayer@ucmerced.edu sproksch@ucmerced.edu psmaldino@ucmerced.edu; smaldino.com
Jordan Ackerman
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA. cmoser2@ucmerced.edu jackerman2@ucmerced.edu adayer@ucmerced.edu sproksch@ucmerced.edu psmaldino@ucmerced.edu; smaldino.com
Alex Dayer
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA. cmoser2@ucmerced.edu jackerman2@ucmerced.edu adayer@ucmerced.edu sproksch@ucmerced.edu psmaldino@ucmerced.edu; smaldino.com
Shannon Proksch
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA. cmoser2@ucmerced.edu jackerman2@ucmerced.edu adayer@ucmerced.edu sproksch@ucmerced.edu psmaldino@ucmerced.edu; smaldino.com
Paul E. Smaldino
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA 95343, USA. cmoser2@ucmerced.edu jackerman2@ucmerced.edu adayer@ucmerced.edu sproksch@ucmerced.edu psmaldino@ucmerced.edu; smaldino.com
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Abstract

We suggest that the accounts offered by the target articles could be strengthened by acknowledging the role of group selection and cultural niche construction in shaping the evolutionary trajectory of human music. We argue that group level traits and highly variable cultural niches can explain the diversity of human song, but the target articles' accounts are insufficient to explain such diversity.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e108
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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