"With regard to the different types of movement, we thought it was incredibly interesting that Snowball had the capacity to move multiple body parts to a beat -- not just his head, but also his feet," said Schachner, a researcher in psychology at Harvard University. "This type of flexibility makes the birds' dancing seem a lot like human dance." Schachner and her colleagues next studied thousands of YouTube videos showing animals dancing. The researchers checked to see which species had rhythm and could align their movements to musical beats. They identified 14 parrot species and an Asian elephant that appear to have this ability. The common thread among all dancers, humans included, seems to be vocal mimicry, with dancing perhaps being a by-product of that skill. Elephants would appear to be the oddball in the group, but they've been known to copy noises, like the sound of moving trucks, similar to how parrots can repeat what they hear. "It may be that after that (vocal) machinery was in place, further selection and other cognitive machinery was needed too" for dancing, said Schachner. Additional studies are needed, however, to confirm the theory. As for Snowball, he continues to surprise owner Irena Schulz, the founder and president of Bird Lovers Only Rescue Service, Inc. For instance, someone recently sent her a CD of German polka tunes. "We fell over when we saw him dancing to those!" Schulz exclaimed. "We never knew German polka tunes would inspire head-banging from a cockatoo!" Related Links: |
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