Sparrow weavers in Africa appear to learn distinct building styles that reflect group traditions, research shows. It raises intriguing questions about avian intelligence.

Birds can be picky building their nests. They experiment with materials, waffle over which twig to use, take them apart and start again. It’s a complex, fiddly process that can seem to reflect careful thought.

“It’s so fascinating,” Maria Tello-Ramos, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said. “But it hasn’t been studied much at all.”

New research led by Dr. Tello-Ramos, published on Thursday in the journal Science, provides the first evidence that groups of birds that build their homes together learn to follow consistent architectural styles, distinct from groups just a few dozen feet away.

The finding upends longstanding assumptions that nest building is an innate behavior based on the birds’ environment and adds to a growing list of behaviors that make up bird culture.

Keep reading this article on The New York Times Energy & Environment.