Dancing was once thought to be unique to humans. Whether we look funny doing it or not, humans
naturally have some sense of rhythm and so have some ability for dancing. Can animals dance?
Some animals can certainly be trained to do so. Have you ever watched a horse and rider
perform dressage?
Others seem to have some natural talent for dancing. Birds of paradise, for
example, have impressive courting dances.
They start out by preparing a dance floor and then reveal their costumes
as the show progresses!
Dancing to the music in your own head is one thing. It's another altogether to follow the beat of
a song! Most birds that can bob to a
beat, like cockatoos and parrots, can also vocally mimic the beats of the songs
they are "dancing" to. They will even
adjust the tempo of their dance to match that of a song that's been slowed down
or sped up.
In a recent study published in APA's Journal of Comparative Psychology, Ronan the sea lion learned
to bob her head to music. Ronan proves
that vocal mimicry isn't a requirement for rhythmic movement. (She's not a singer.)
According to an article published on ScienceDaily:
"At the beginning of
the experiments, Ronan was first trained to move in time to a hand signal,
which was replaced by a simple non-musical sound signal. When she successfully
completed tests by bobbing her head to various rhythmic sounds, she was
rewarded with a fish, the study said."
Ronan was eventually able to bob her head to the beat of a
number of songs, even without prior exposure to them. She didn't forget her rhythm skills after
training was suspended.
Related Reading: Beluga
whales, the canaries of the sea!
Resources: Science
Daily, BBC,
National
Geographic
Image Credits: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Santa Cruz Sentinel
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Re: Animals That Can Keep a Beat
