Reader Irena happens to own Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo which is, as far as I know, the only animal in history to be documented to actually move to the beat of music. Or, as Wikipedia puts it,
Snowball (hatched c. 1996) is a male Eleonora cockatoo, noted as being the first non-human animal conclusively demonstrated to be capable of beat induction— perceiving music and synchronizing his body movements to the beat (i.e. dancing).
To make a long story short, I autographed a copy of WEIT for Irena, and drew a very poor likeness of Snowball it, which you can see in the cartoon below. The cartoon is drawn regularly by Su, another reader who has contributed several bits of artistry to this site, and she incorporated my drawing (and my book) into the latest strip.
Other regulars on the strip are a cockroach named Buddy and a lizard of some sort whose name I’ve forgotten. But thanks for the plug!
Heeeree’s the gang, and I’ve put a video of Snowball dancing below the cartoon
Snowball dancing. I hope to visit him on a seminar trip next spring, though I’m told that Snowball is a roué, and dancing more readily when there are young ladies present:
There are plenty of humans who are not capable of beat induction!
PS Is palmetto an anole & in honour of Greg?
“Buddy” Palmetto joined the strip when Snowball and family moved to South Carolina. South Carolinians like to brag about their size and exploits. “BruceAnn” the anole, is also quite popular, people gently relocate them back outside.
BruceAnn??? Of undetermined gender?
S/he was introduced as “Bruce, an anole,” which was heard as ‘BruceAnn Aknowlay.’ He doesn’t much care what he is called, as long as there tasty morsels to be had.
:-). Kinda like Ann Elk
I’m so glad to hear that Irena is a reader here, so I can say, I love Snowball! He certainly is a better dancer than many, many people.
That move he does of lifting one leg, then the other (I do steps, not actual leg lifting, then holding for a beat, then repeating leading on the opposite leg, is a main move that I do. And, I’m a pretty good dancer.
Also, the head shaking and throwing his crest down at the end is fabulous. Better than me any day.
Snowball gives dance lessons, btw. 😉
Sign me up!
b&
With Baihu on your shoulders?
Hmmm…I have no clue how he’d react to a Snowball-sized and -shaped bird. I’ve yet to take him to my parents’s place where he could watch Mom’s hens through the sliding glass door. Geese and turkeys, I’m sure, would make him nervous at the least. Sparrow-sized birds would righty be nervous in his presence. That intermediate range, though…no clue. Remember, there’s that Youtube video of the cat and owl playing a friendly game of tag with each other, so it’s not entirely out of the question….
b&
I don’t think humans have the spine for banging their heads like Snowball does. Granted, people do it, but I bet they have neck problems now.
As a former ‘headbanger’ and a now geriatric with arthritis of the neck, I can attest to that.
🐾
Is Snowball also singing to to the chorus?
It sounds like he does. This is one cool bird!
Yes, he does attempt to sing along, but he knows better than to quit his day job.
I bet it works, too — chicks really dig moves like that!
b&
Yes, Snowball is quite the ladies man. He struts his stuff narcissistically.
Or just with supreme self-confidence….
b&
Don’t they all?
So I’ve heard tell….
b&
I don’t know about “conclusively”, but perhaps Wikipedia is safer to say “the first”.
“Cook also noted that the well-trained Ronan [a sea lion] performs much better than the birds at staying on the beat. “In the videos, Alex [an African gray parrot] and Snowball fall off the beat a lot. They’re good at finding the tempo in music, but don’t seem to maintain the behavior as reliably as Ronan. She stays right on the beat,” he said.”
[ http://news.ucsc.edu/2013/04/sea-lion-beat.html ]
“It turned out that Snowball could adjust his dance moves when Patel slowed the song down or sped it up. That flexibility is key to determining whether animals can follow a melody like people can, Patel explains.
Since then, scientists have demonstrated that a similar, if less flexible, ability exists in bonobos and chimpanzees. And a captive sea lion at the University of California, Santa Cruz has become quite proficient at bobbing her head in time to “Boogie Wonderland.””
[ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140216-sea-lion-parrot-music-animal-behavior-science/ ]
More here: http://www.aaas.org/news/animals-can-bop-along-beat
In any case, Snowball got it (rocking and) rolling.
The sea lion performs for fish. Snowball gets no treats for performing, he only does it because he wants to.
Actually beat keeping has recently been shown in a sealion, right here at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Here is a link to a youtube video of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yS6qU_w3JQ
That said, the sealion does not have Snowball’s amazing crest action. All of my ornithology students get exposed to Snowball’s antics
By no means denigrating Snowball or any frolicking aquatic mammals or their talents, but I find Chilean photographer José Fuentes and his little dog Carrie (looks like some part golden retriever) very impressive. She has all the moves, twirling, dipping and the other Latin dance moves down. And she stays on her partner’s rhythm. Not that I’ve ever seen one (nor do I intend to), but I’d bet they could be “Dancing with the Stars.”
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2012/05/29/carrie-dancing-dog-promotes-latin-music-in-us/