動物言語　　Animal Languages

言葉を持つのは人間だけ、という定説を覆し、シジュウカラの多様な鳴き声には意味があり、組み合わせて複雑な分を作ることを明らかにした人が動物言語学者の鈴木俊貴・東京大学准教授です。（添付写真記事参照）

現在、私も毎日、机についている時には、子育て中のシジュウカラのペアの行動を巣箱の外から、窓を隔てて3メートル先で観察しています。巣箱内に設置したカメラで巣作り、産卵、抱卵、ヒナの孵化、給餌行動、親子の触れ合いをここ一ヶ月以上も観察しています。

人間以外の身の回りの野生の小鳥たちや小動物から学べる事は多くあります。きっと、特に戦争好きな暴君政治家には。

今日は一日中、あいにくの雨の日ですが、我家のシジュウカラ夫婦の子育てに休みはありません。

Mr. Toshiki Suzuki, an associate professor of animal linguistics at the University of Tokyo, has overturned the conventional wisdom that only humans possess language. He has revealed that the diverse calls of great tits carry meaning and can be combined to form complex messages. (See the attached photo article.)

Currently, every day while I’m at my desk, I observe the behavior of a pair of great tits raising their young from outside their nest box, three meters away across the window. For over a month now, I have been using a camera installed inside the nest box to observe their nest-building, egg-laying, incubation, hatching, feeding behavior, and parent-offspring interactions.

There is much we can learn from the wild birds and small animals around us, other than humans. This is especially true for war-loving, tyrannical politicians.

Today is unfortunately a rainy day, but the great tit couple in our garden never takes a break from raising their young.