One of alcohol's effects on humans is slurred speech. The same apparently goes for drunk birds and recent research demonstrates that drunk zebra finches slur their birdsongs.

Scientists normally use finches as a model to study human vocalization and learning. Since alcohol impairs speech, Olson and his team from the Oregon Health and Science University conducted an experiment to see if this was also the same for birds, as well.

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They mixed some juice and six percent alcohol and put it in water bottles inside the birds' cages, according to lead study author Christopher Olson. The team observed the birds seem to tolerate the cocktail pretty well and were willing to drink it even if other animals didn't touch the alcoholic mix when given to them.

When scientists measured the alcohol content in the birds, the level ranged from .05 percent to .08 percent. This won't make the birds fall down blindly drunk but it was enough for the finches lose their singing abilities.

Audio recordings reveal the finches' songs became slightly slurred, says Olson. The slurring also made the finches a bit disorganized when it came to producing sounds.

This research will help shed light how speech and language work and identify some genetic causes how speech and language impairments arise, according to Claudio Mello, a professor of behavioral neuroscience from OHSU who was not involved with this study.

This bird study will also help in the understanding how these genes work in the brain and to develop better approaches to diagnose and combat speech problems in humans early on.

TagsStudy: Drunk Birds Also Slur Their Songs, zebra finches, Birds, drunk birds buzzed alcohol slur songs