So Cockatoos Can Danceatoos: Experimental Evidence for Synchronization to a Musical Beat in a Nonhuman Animal

Parrots can dance.  If you didn't know, shame on you.  Videos have been posted on YouTube for years; obviously your elitist perception of the world prevented you from seeing that a species besides your own can shake their tail feathers, or ride dirty (like Paul can), maybe even better than you can.  Fucking specist.  You're the new racist.  But I digress.

This particular video has been getting a bunch of attention recently.

That was kinda fun.  Let's check out another.

OK, you may be thinking, "So Snowball can dance to Backstreet Boys and Queen, but that's like the easiest music to dance to.  Let's see your precious Snowball do THIS":

I'd say that you're missing the point and that not only are you still a specist, but now you're a Michael Jackson fan.  I can forgive the second part.  But dude, put your specist blinders down for two seconds.

This video and those like it inspired two studies, published very recently and available at Current Biology.  I'm looking at the first, titled "Experimental Evidence for Synchronization to a Musical Beat in a Nonhuman Animal" (available for download here, pdf).  The paper contains the following summary:

The tendency to move in rhythmic synchrony with a musical beat (e.g., via head bobbing, foot tapping, or dance) is a human universal [1] yet is not commonly observed in other species [2]. Does this ability reflect a brain specialization for music cognition, or does it build on neural circuitry that ordinarily serves other functions? According to the vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization hypothesis [3], entrainment to a musical beat relies on the neural circuitry for complex vocal learning, an ability that requires a tight link between auditory and motor circuits in the brain [4,5]. This hypothesis predicts that only vocal learning species (such as humans and some birds, cetaceans, and pinnipeds, but not nonhuman primates) are capable of synchronizing movements to a musical beat. Here we report experimental evidence for synchronization to a beat in a sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora). By manipulating the tempo of a musical excerpt across a wide range, we show that the animal spontaneously adjusts the tempo of its rhythmic movements to stay synchronized with the beat. These findings indicate that synchronization to a musical beat is not uniquely human and suggest that animal models can provide insights into the neurobiology and evolution of human music [6].

This is actually pretty amazing stuff.  Two theories to explain the ability to dance are advanced and evaluated experimentally (and I hope that you guys will correct me on this if I misspeak or if I miss the point).  The first theory suggests that dancing reflects a specialized ability to understand and appreciate music.  The second theory suggests that dancing doesn't reflect such a specialized ability, rather it is an extension of a capacity for vocal learning.  If the second theory holds true, then that would mean that only those species with a capacity for vocal learning should be able to dance.  And as far as I can tell, the evidence from this study supports the second theory.

So cockatoos can danceatoos.  Let me put this in terms that you can understand, you Jackson fan.  "Heal the World," man.  "Black or White" or feathered, man.  It's all the same.  And if you don't like it, you can "Beat It," man.  What?  You "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"?  Before you do, take a look at the "Man In the Mirror," and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."  "The Way You Make Me Feel"?  "Bad," man.

NOTE:  This post may be revised and developed throughout the day as comments or thoughts arrive.  Keep checking, you fucking specist.