When we think of dancing the thought of pet parrots isn’t usually the first thing that pops into our minds but believe it or not, pet parrots can dance and follow the rhythm very well.
Studies have been done which show that pet parrots are able to follow a beat of music quite well. The studies hypothesize that because pet parrots can mimik speech this opens them to the ability to also follow a rhythm in music. It is interesting to note that studies were also done on monkeys and apes, our nearest evolutionary cousins and found that although they can produce rhythms, they don’t dance like the pet parrots can.
This and obviously other studies have shown that pet parrots actually do have the ability not only to mimic sound such as singing, but also to move their bodies (known as entrainment) in rhthym to the music being heard.
I don’t think we will be seeing any pet parrots on So You Think You Can Dance, or Dancing with the Stars but it certainly is super interesting to know that because of their vocal ability they are able to do such things as dancing to the music. Who would have thought it possible?
Here is one of a couple of interesting videos from you tube you may enjoy watching of pet parrots dancing and singing:
Sources:
They Got the Beat
Rhythm in animals reveals evolution of human music
http://www.scienceline.org/2010/02/05/they-got-the-beat/
Spontaneous Motor Entrainment to Music in Multiple Vocal Mimicking Species
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2809%2900915-4
