>"Tim Rhodes" <proftim@SPEAKEASY.ORG> wrote:
>> Seems too constrained an evironment to me. Are birdsongs memes?
>
>Not until somebody intentionally spreads them. (most birds are genetically
>trained to sing their songs -- not memes)
Incorrect. Songbirds are genetically programmed to sing, but the songs
themselves are not. (Much as we are programmed for language, but not _a_
language.) Birdsongs vary within species by region and location; a flock's
songs change over time and within the lifespan a single bird; new songs
introduced are copied and spread to other flocks; and songbirds of one
species raised by another species will grow up to sing their foster parents
songs.
Sounds like a meme to me.
-Prof. Tim