Is there any scientific evidence that suggests animals, other than humans, can respond to rhythm?
Can they / do they move in sync to rhythm?
Supporting links would be most welcome.
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22 Answers
I come down on the side of yes, especially after seeing this. Go, Snowball!
There’s a cockatoo on YouTube who is definitely responding to music with head bobbing in perfect time.
Maybe not a scientific study but it’s pretty obvious watching it that it’s highly unlikely that he’s the only one capable of doing this.
EDIT: I posted my comment before reading others and @marinelife has the clip of the bird I was talking about.
@Dutchess_III I think that anything with above average intelligence is going to display unique behaviors/skills, but even the most intelligent horses are no comparison to a Bonobo or a Cockatoo or a Dolphin. Intelligence is more about problem solving, so an intelligent horse might learn how to turn on the hose to play in it or open locked gates or break into the feed room or hold his breath to loosen the cinch on his saddle, bang their gates and kick their stalls when they want to be fed (all behaviors I have seen with horses ) but in general, most horses are not wired to be exceptionally bright like other species. They are all about safety and self preservation being prey animals. Everything you see a horse do, from being ridden to any performance is all about conditioning them to feel safe performing unnatural behaviors.
Having a rider on their back is huge as in nature if a predator leaps on their back their natural instinct is to bolt and buck. In that respect we have, through trust and training created an animal that will allow for a lot of unnatural behaviors to take place.
@Buttonstc Yes, the articles say that birds and certain primates seem able to do so but most animals no.
@Zaku Yes, some animals but not all. The first article I posted by a psychologist from Tufts University says that If they naturally possess the ability to synchronize their movements to a beat the Bonobos in the study should be able to match varying tempos without SEEING a human setting the beat and that hasn’t happened yet in non-humans, be that Bonobos or anything else. Dr. Patel believes that the ability to track new and changing beats, occurs only in certain species with complex vocal learning, birds, cetaceans, elephants and bats.
Freestyle dog dancing on youtube may be a hit he says, but doesn’t prove the dog actually hears the beat.
All the animals in that video are simply reacting to conditioning, owner training/prompting/ reward or just plain playful curiosity. My pet goose likes me to sing to him and play my Djembe drum and has doinked the drum with his beak on occasion but I am under no illusion he is displaying rhythm or musical talent, he simply likes the songs I sing because I insert his name and every time he hears his name he squawks and because he is conditioned to know that when I put on music and start singing and playing I often include him so it is a time of attention . It’s that simple, 90% of the time.
@Coloma I’m having a hard time seeing how your synopsis of the Tufts psychologist makes sense. Even if the Bonobos are only moving to a beat after seeing a human setting a beat, why would that be any less an ability to move to a beat?
Aren’t several of the examples showing animals that respond to beats they just hear?
If the dog mimicking the record player rhythm isn’t mimicking it, what is it doing?
@Because mimicking and actually responding to a beat organically are two completely different things. One is contrived through training/association and the other would arise spontaneously. Seals don’t sit on rocks in the ocean clapping their flippers to the beat of their own drummer. lol
Now if you were to put on some music and your dog, out of the blue, started keeping beat to the music that would be remarkable.
A dog that is just watching it’s owner move the record next to it and mimicking the movement is doing nothing other than mimicking the owners movements.
A horse that has music set to his training exercises is not actually keeping beat and tempo by itself.
He’s probably masturbating….. :O
My goose Marwyn gooseterbates with the garden hose. He figured it out all on his own about 10 years ago.
He straddles the hose, gets it in just the right position between his legs and then presses himself with the hose up against the back of his pool for some friction and then, at the magic moment he shrieks and falls over and afterwards has a nice wing flap.
Now that’s intelligence, he learned to use a tool for sexual gratification, nobody showed him how. lol
@Coloma Isn’t it also a completely different thing, whether animals organically choose to do something, and whether, as this question is asking, they can? I don’t think anyone’s suggesting that animals naturally do behave like Disney animals or music video extras in response to music. If the question is whether animals can respond to rhythm, then surely mimicking rhythms is a demonstration of that, no? And how do you know what a horse is doing when it dances to a training exercise – if it follows a rhythm, what else would it be besides using a rhythm? What is a rhythm except a pattern of events laid out in a pattern over time?
@Zaku It’s conditioning, again. I am a lifelong horse person and horses perform as they are trained to perform. They allow a rider on their back and do many things that go against their prey animal natures in the wild and as domestics, because they are trained to do so and develop trust in their handler not because they love being ridden or jumping or running barrels or pulling a wagon. All of these things are naturally repellent behaviors to a horse in it;s natural state.
Having a predator on its back, being “chased” by a large object behind them ( wagon ) jumping obstacles they would avoid in nature, running patterns around strategically placed barrels, training vs. natural predisposition is what I am talking about.
I am just saying that responding from conditioning is not a true measure of an animals ability to learn rhythm, beat and tempo.
I think we’re disagreeing on intent not action. I don’t consider mimicking to be a self motivated behavior, only a response to conditioning.
Not a musical example, but there are several species of firefly that synchronize their flashing. Each firefly tries to match its neighbors and the result is that eventually the entire group will be in sync. The firefly strategy is similar to the way that a flock of birds or a school of fish stay together. I wonder if the wing movements of the birds tend to be in sync.
@Coloma Ok, but again that seems like we’re answering different questions. Dutchess asked:
“Can they / do they move in sync to rhythm?”
I’m looking at the “can they” part, and taking the “do they” part to include do they (even when they’re doing it because humans are influencing them).
You seem to be looking at the “do they” part, and looking at whether they behave like humans without human influence.
@Zaku I see your point, yes, I am coming from more of the “do they” rather than “can they”
Yes, they can with training/conditioning but do they, all on their own, probably not. The examples @LostinParadise give are more natural sychronicity
Definitely some birds. Makes sense. Some already make a ‘song.’ Some have mating ‘dances.’( although no rithym )
@Pandora haha, I love the parrots. yes, I think birds especially are more prone to getting a rhythm, or at least appearing too.
@Coloma That is a cockatoo, not a parrot (even though it is a member of the parrot family).
@marinelife Yes, I know. I meant the parrot family in general. I used to have a Military Macaw he was amazing. :-)
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