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Can females sing if exposed to testosterone? Male birds are not the only ones whose brains can respond to testosterone. Some types of female songbirds can acquire the ability to sing when they are injected with testosterone. Would you guess that this new behavior is associated with a change in the brain? Do their song-producing nuclei change? Yes! In fact, four of the nuclei can grow up to 50% larger than they were prior to the testosterone injection. (Note: most female songbirds must be exposed to testosterone both during early development AND adulthood to have the ability to sing) (image thanks to this page on songbirds and sex variation) This is interesting, but can we talk about humans now? HOME || VARIATION || PATHOLOGY || GENDER & SEXUAL ORIENTATION || BIBLIOGRAPHY