Bonobos, like humans, keep time to music

[undeterred]

CHICAGO - Some animals, like humans, can sense and respond to a musical beat, a finding that has implications for understanding how the skill evolved, scientists said on Saturday. A study of bonobos, closely related to chimpanzees, shows they have an innate ability to match tempo and synchronize a beat with human experimenters.

For the study, researchers designed a highly resonate, bonobo-friendly drum able to withstand 500 pounds of jumping pressure, chewing, and other ape-like behaviors. "Bonobos are very attuned to sound. They hear above our range of hearing," said Patricia Gray, a biomusic program director at University of North Carolina in Greensboro.

Experimenters beat a drum at a tempo favored by bonobos - roughly 280 beats per minute, or the cadence that humans speak syllables. The apes picked up the beat and synchronized using the bonobo drum, Gray and psychologist Edward Large, with the University of Connecticut, said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"It's not music, but we're slowing moving in that direction," Large said. Related research on a rescued sea lion, which has no innate rhythmic ability, shows that with training, it could bob its head in time with music, said comparative psychologist Peter Cook, who began working with Ronan the sea lion while a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Scientists suspect that the musical and rhythmic abilities of humans evolved to strengthen social bonds, "so, one might think that a common ancestor to humans and the bonobo would have some of these capabilities," Large said.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/02/15/bonobos-like-humans-keep-time-to-music

[bettyellen]

1. and.... you can pretty much set your watch by them.

[seabeyond]

2. ya. well my dog does, too. can even swing the hip a bit. nt

[boston bean]

3. I've seen dogs sing jingle bells... woofing of course... but still

[In_The_Wind]

4. They are interesting creatures.

[exboyfil]

5. The Edgar Rice Burroughs Dum Dum

I can see John Clayton, Lord Greystoke dancing to the beat.

[kcr]

6. So can parrots

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5252413/Birds-can-dance-in-time-to-music.html

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent 7:00AM BST 01 May 2009
Researchers have revealed that birds – and parrots in particular – can bob their heads, tap their feet, and sway their bodies along to a musical beat.
Now they believe that other "mimicking" species such as dolphins, elephants, and pinnipeds, a group including walruses and seals, may also like to boogie.

[RainDog]

7. Archeologists have found rocks that were used as drums

Rhythm is a form of communication, not just a means of social bonds. "Morse code" from large rocks whose sound could travel long distances on savannahs and other rocks that provide a great, resonant tones in caves. Such rocks were marked to identify them.

http://www.landscape-perception.com/archaeoacoustics/

[Downwinder]

8. With the Ringling Bros. fire in Hartford, the band switched to the exit

music and no animals were injured.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

9. I read this great book a couple years back

called "This Is Your Brain On Music". It was all about how we have evolved to make and appreciate music, and how many animals are capable of creating and appreciating music. As a musician, it was a fascinating read.

[Bonobo]

10. Peter Gabriel and Bonobo music

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. First it's the music, then the dancing and then the SEX!!!!

[undeterred]

12. Except on DU, where its the reverse.