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Published online 25 June 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.914
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Birds that boogie
Online videos of 'dancing' cockatoos are not flukes but the first genuine evidence of animal dancing.
When Snowball, a sulphur-crested male cockatoo, was shown last year in a YouTube video apparently moving in time to pop music, he became an Internet sensation.
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I feel that not calling this story "White Birds CAN Dance" was a wasted opportunity.
Very interesting article! This opens up questions for further study.
I've had a Lesser Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo for nearly 30 years and indeed, sometimes he (it's a boy) also likes to dance, like Snowball. He's not quite as heavily rocking with his feet, but the rhythmic head-bobbing is there. There are some kinds of music he seems to like for dancing, like light but harmonious jazz, whereas other kinds only make him protest very loudly. Obviously, they do not only have the capability of reacting to music, but they are also able to develop tastes.
Oh Gosh! I have to write about this to my friends. Even parrots like Backstreet Boys. Thanks a lot for this article!
I hope that as we learn more and more about the richness of birds' lives, we respect them enough not to lock them in cages (or factory farm warehouses - chickens and turkeys are birds, too, and much smarter and complex than most people think).
"‘Snowball is better (dancing) than a typical 2-4 year old, but not as good as a human adult’, he says. (Some might say the same of Snowball’s musical tastes.)" wuahahahahahahaha!! I'm totally agree with that, there are much better music than "Backstreet Boys", maybe Bach?
This is all good and fine but can he Polka ?
I have a Red Fronted Macaw that loves to dance to latin tunes. Posted by: Dave Duncan
Uh-oh, this is getting out of hand: http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-contests/bird-dance-off.aspx
Despite this empirical result, we cannot be sure Snowball is imitating human behavior or whether s/he is really listening. First of all, also during the recordings of these videos the owner of the bird is present in the room. So the bird can simply be imitating her movements i.o. listen. (If you look at the shade in the first, original Snowball video you see in the first few seconds a shadow on the wall; the owner with a feather on her head?). Furthermore, the reports just 5-20% of synchrony with the music. Actually a non-trivial issue to show that this is actually statistically significant. http://www.musiccognition.nl/blog/2008/06/is-beat-induction-special-part-4.html http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=8713753&start=00:46:40
?Snowball is better than a typical 2-4 year old, but not as good as a human adult?. Well, some adults. He has better rhythm than I do, and I'm old enough (if not mature enough) to be an adult.