“Male zebra finches could be addicted to love. When wooing females, the Australian songbirds feel pleasure akin to that of a drug-induced high, a new study says.”
Zebra Finch. Photograph: M. Paul
Reported in a post at National Geographic News, researchers Neal Hessler and Ya-Chun Huang of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan found that the male birds’ brains became flooded with dopamine when they sang to females, but not when they sang for themselves. Dopamine is a powerful chemical messenger associated with feelings of desire, satisfaction, and happiness.
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