London, Feb 20 : Women are much better at talking than men because it seems females have higher brain levels of a "language protein" called Foxp2 which plays an important role in language development, a new research has shown.

It might explain why women talk nearly three times more than men. The average woman speaks 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man, the Daily Express reported.

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine made tests on baby rats, where the sex difference in Foxp2 levels is reversed, with young male rats normally having more.

Separated from their mothers the males made more noise and were retrieved first.

When the team reversed the protein levels, raising it in the females, the mother reversed her behaviour.

The study then found that girls had more of the Foxp2 protein in the cortex than boys the same age.

Cheryl Sisk of Michigan State University, said: "At first glance, one might conclude that the findings in rats don't generalise to humans, but the higher levels of Foxp2 expression are found in the more communicative sex in each species."

The study is published in The Journal of Neuroscience. (ANI)