Table 1 Summary of the zoo-bred regent honeyeater song tutoring experimental design under an adaptive management framework showing cohorts of juveniles, their tutoring treatment, site, aviary type and cohort size. Breeding site TWPZ refers to Taronga Western plains Zoo, Dubbo; TZ refers to Taronga Zoo, Sydney. Zoo-bred birds in the tutor origin column refer to zoo-bred males that successfully learned the typical blue mountains song in previous years of the study. See Fig. S1 for description of aviary types.

From: Rescue of the traditional song culture of a critically endangered songbird

Treatment group

Breeding season

Breeding site

Aviary type

No. males in cohort

No. live tutors

Tutor origin

1. Control

2020/21

TWPZ

2

9

N/A

N/A

2. Playback only, large cohort

2020/21

TWPZ

2

9

N/A

N/A

3. Live tutoring only, large cohort

2020/21

TZ

2

13

1

Wild

4. Playback only, small cohort

2021/22

TWPZ

2

4

N/A

N/A

2021/22

TWPZ

2

5

N/A

N/A

5. Live tutoring + playback, small cohort

2021/22

TZ

1

4

1

Wild

2021/22

TZ

1

4

1

Wild

2022/23

TZ

1

4

1

Wild

2022/23

TZ

1

5

1

Zoo-bred

6. Live tutoring only, small cohort

2022/2023

TZ

2

5

2

Zoo-bred

TZ

2

5

2

Zoo-bred

TWPZ

3

4

2

Zoo-bred