Staff profile

I completed my undergraduate training at the University of New England and my PhD at the University of Queensland. I joined La Trobe as a research fellow in 1972 and became a Lecturer in Zoology in 1975; I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1984 and an Associate Professor and Reader in 1996. My enduring research interest has been the behaviour and ecology of Australian birds, grassfinches in particular. These birds are excellent scientific models for investigating fundamental questions into the evolution, development and physiology of animal behaviour. My main subject has been the Australian zebra finch, the foremost avian model in biology and in 1996 Oxford University Press published my book The Australian zebra finch: a synthesis of field and laboratory studies. In addition to laboratory studies of behaviour I have conducted field work in arid and semi-arid regions of Australia. I also have an interest in island biogeography and have focused my research on avian recolonization of the volcanic Krakatau islands in Indonesia. In 1998 I was awarded the Birds Australia D. L. Serventy Medal for outstanding published work on birds in the Australasian region.

Research interests

• Avian ecology and behavior
• Avian bioacoustics
• Song development
• Avian mimicry

Recent publications (2001 - 2008)

- view a full list of publications (PDF 29KB)



• Ewenson, E., Zann, R. & G. R. Flannery. 2001. Body condition and immune response in wild zebra finches: effects of capture, confinement and captive rearing. Naturwissenschaften 88: 391-394.
• Ewenson, D. Zann, R. & G. Flannery 2003. PHA immune response assay in captive zebra finches is modulated by activity prior to testing. Animal Behaviour 66: 797-800.
• Zann, R. & Runciman, D. 2003. Primary sex ratios in zebra finches: no evidence for adaptive manipulation in wild and semi-domesticated populations. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 54: 294-302.
• Rozman, R., Runciman, D. & Zann, R. 2003. Seasonal variation in body mass and fat of zebra finches in south-eastern Australia. The Emu 103: 11-20.
• R. Zann 2004. Directed and undirected song: zebra finches in captivity and the field.  In: Nature's Music: the Science of Birdsong (Ed. by P. Marler & H. Slabberkoorn), pp. 240. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Runciman, D. & Zann, R. 2005. Geographic and temporal variation of the male zebra finch distance call. Ethology 111: 367-379.
• Roper, A. & Zann, R. 2006. The onset of song learning and song tutor selection in fledgling zebra finches. Ethology 112: 458-470.
• Perfito, N., Zann, R. A., Bentley, G. E., & Hau, M. 2007. Opportunism at work: habitat predictability affects reproductive readiness in free-living zebra finches. Functional Ecology 21:291–301.
• Zann, R. & Cash, E. 2008. Developmental stress impairs song complexity but not learning accuracy in non-domesticated zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 62: 391-400.
• Zann, R. & Dunstan, E. 2008. Mimetic song in superb lyrebirds: species mimicked and mimetic accuracy in different populations and age classes. Animal Behaviour 76: 1043-1054.