Scientist receives $100,000 prize for decoding zebra finch calls

A researcher at the University of California, Berkeley received the 2026 Coller-Dolittle prize for identifying the meanings of 11 core calls used by zebra finches. The scientist recorded the birds for more than a decade and used machine learning to classify the calls according to context and the individual bird making each sound.

Tests showed the finches responded to the calls in ways that matched the researcher's classifications.

Prize background The Coller-Dolittle prize was established in 2024 by the Jeremy Coller Foundation in partnership with Tel Aviv University. A separate $10 million grand prize remains available for achieving two-way human-animal communication. The chair of the judging panel described the work as a key moment in the field.

A second panel member noted the research included experiments that asked the birds themselves whether the assigned meanings were correct.

Research method Zebra finches were played recorded calls and could tap a button to receive seeds or skip to the next call. The birds learned to avoid unrewarding calls and sometimes confused calls with similar meanings rather than similar sounds. Other shortlisted teams studied ultrasonic calls in African striped mice, call sequences in bonobos, and vocalizations in chimpanzees.

The prize founder stated that advances in artificial intelligence make two-way communication with animals inevitable.