Aniruddh Patel is a neuroscientist who studies how the brain and the nervous system contribute to learning, seeing and other mental abilities. After seeing a YouTube video of a cockatoo dancing named Snowball he decides to visit this dancing bird. Mr. Patel works at the “The Neurosciences Institute” in San Diego, visits Snowball at a bird rescue facility which Snowball calls home. Patel plays the cockatoo’s favourite song “Everybody” and other versions of this song were sped up or slowed down, Snowball danced too fast or too slow sometimes. When the tempo was changed Snowball had to adjust the speed of his dancing to match the rhythm, other scientist observed the same abilities with preschool children in other experiments.
Mr. Patel isn’t the only one who studied Snowball’s moves, Adena Schachner, who studies psychology at Harvard University, also wanted to learn more about this amazing cockatoo, so Schachner’s team played different musical pieces for Snowball and a parrot named Alex, as well as eight volunteers. Both scientist observed the bird’s and the eight volunteer’s moves and conclude they both kept time to the music with about the same accuracy. Schachner and her team didn’t stop there, she and some of her colleagues watched thousands of YouTube videos of different animals moving to the music, and not all animals could dance, however.
1) Do you think other animals have this ability to dance and keep a beat?
2) Do you think that animal have other human ability example: like talking, writing?
Thank you and enjoy!
