Swans, the elegant waterfowl often admired for their graceful movements and stunning beauty, have now taken the center stage for their musical talents. A new study has found that swans can learn to sing, a behavior previously believed to be unique to birds like songbirds and parrots.

The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Kiel in Germany and published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, focused on two species of swans: the mute swan and the whooper swan. The researchers found that the swans can learn to mimic sounds, including musical tunes and human speech.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Laurenz Walthert, said that the findings challenged the traditional notion that only birds with complex vocal learning abilities, such as parrots and songbirds, could develop the ability to sing.

“At first, we thought this was unique to individual birds or just a fluke,” Walthert said in a statement. “But eventually, we found that the ability to learn to sing is actually quite common in swans.”

The researchers used male swans that were hand-raised in captivity, and played them recordings of different types of music, including classical and pop music. They found that the swans could imitate the melodies, and also showed a preference for certain types of music.

But the swans didn’t just mimic human music; they also learned to sing their own songs, a behavior that has been observed in other bird species. The researchers found that the whooper swans had distinct songs that were passed down from generation to generation, similar to what is seen in songbirds.

The study also found that the swans learned to sing better when they were exposed to music at a young age, highlighting the importance of early exposure for the development of singing abilities.

The findings have several implications, including the potential to study swan vocalizations as a tool for understanding evolutionary processes in birds. They also raise questions about the origins of vocal learning and suggest that this behavior may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought.

In the grand scheme of things, the study adds to our understanding of the incredible diversity of animal behavior, and the amazing abilities that nature has bestowed upon different species.

So the next time you see a swan gracefully gliding across the water, remember that it might just have a beautiful voice to match.