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Subjects

- Evolution of language

- Sexual selection

- Social behaviour

The Original Article was published on 20 March 2024

Retraction to: Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07207-4 Published online 20 March 2024

The authors have retracted this article because, upon further analysis, one of the synthetic song pairs used in the female preference test (data in Fig. 3c,d) was shown to be reliable in its ranking of short versus long path length only 35% of the time and a second song pair was reliable only 75% of the time. Therefore, the authors have lost confidence in the ability to interpret these data. All authors agree to this retraction.

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Authors and Affiliations

- Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

Danyal Alam, Fayha Zia & Todd F. Roberts

- O’Donnell Brain Institute, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

Todd F. Roberts

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- Fayha ZiaView author publications

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- Todd F. RobertsView author publications

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Todd F. Roberts.

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Alam, D., Zia, F. & Roberts, T.F. Retraction Note: The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song.

Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10483-x

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- Published: 15 April 2026

- Version of record: 15 April 2026

- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10483-x

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Retraction Note: The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song | Nature