A Baby’s Cry Transcends Species
Baby Wrens Learn While They’re Still in the Egg
Some things we have in common with our animal buddies.

Y’know, I’ve never actually looked into all that prenatal learning stuff, but I’ve always idly wondered about those mothers who press earphones playing Mozart against their swollen bellies… are they crazy, or is there something to it?
Well, for wrens, the babies definitely learn in the egg. Scientists played various sounds and calls and reached the conclusion that yes, baby birds learn in their eggs. Cue the rounds of aaaaaaw. (I have a mental picture of a little baby bird rocking out to earphones inside his egg.)

(And did you know that songbirds also share our musical scales? Whaaaat?

As it turns out, baby cries both animal and human have a lot in common, too. Mothers of various animal species would attempt to locate the source of distressed baby cries regardless of the species making the cry. Turns out parenthood unites mothers of all species.

Although really… scientists needed to do a study to verify this? I think most of us have felt our heartstrings tugged by the cries of distressed baby animals before. There are too many adorable internet videos for that not to be the case. INTERNET, PROVE ME RIGHT FOR SCIENCE!

See? Aaaaaaw!