Known as the Society finch in North America and the Bengali finch or Bengalese finch elsewhere, Lonchura striata domestica is a domesticated finch not found in nature. It became a popular cage and trade bird after appearing in European zoos in the 1860s where it was imported from Japan. There have been many theories of the origin of domestication for the Bengalese finch, and we now know it took place primarily in Japan. Coloration and behavior were modified through centuries of selection in Asia, then later in Europe and North America.
Another aspect of the Bengali finch that evolved throughout the centuries is song production. Extensive research has been done and continues to be done on the different ways Bengali finch songs are produced, how they are processed in the brain, what characteristics of the songs are preferred by females, and how their songs compare to the also commonly studied zebra finch.