Whether traveling pigeons or sea lions in the head, can animals fight?

A pigeon rushing to a street vendor playing the fuzzy lines of Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams recently put Twitter on the shelves. It's certainly a catchy air that I can not help but stomp, but is it really what the pigeon does?

This pigeon seems to jump to the rhythm on one foot, or it can only have one leg. In both cases, this would mean that he and other pigeons are able to make comparisons, considered a precursor to dance and a solely human skill. To beat a match, an animal must be able to reproduce a complex pattern over a range of beats at different speeds (or tempos) and reproduce the beat in a different format, called modality. In the case of the pigeon, it would mean hearing the music – the sound is a modality – and dancing in response – the movement is another modality. It should also be anticipated when the beat will arrive.

Many animals perform repetitive and rhythmic movements, such as lizards and birds tossing their heads, tweeting crickets and frogs, and flying fireflies. When many of these animals meet, the rhythms of their songs and movements can align. This can be seen in the fireflies, which flash together at the same time. This is what is called rhythm training.

But it's simpler than the time pairing. Fireflies blink in complex patterns and tempos. This is not a simple rhythm, they are not able to change tempo quickly. And the workout is in the same modality – they see flashing and flashing produce, which could just be a mere mimicry.

Another important criterion for pairing beats is that humans can predict when the beat is coming. When I tap on the fuzzy lines, I tap directly on the time because I predict when it will arrive. Many animals, such as rhesus monkeys, can change the rhythm of their beats and are therefore at about the same rate as the music, but most of their tapping will occur after the musical beat and will not be as accurate as the beat. 'To be human.

Many scientists believe that only animals with vocal learning abilities should be able to beat rhythms. They are animals that can learn complex vocal signals like human speech and imitative sounds. They include parrots, hummingbirds, elephants, some whales and dolphins, seals and bats. Indeed, scientists believe that the areas of the brain controlling the imitation of sound are probably also involved in the detection of a rhythm.

At the camera

There are compelling videos of parrots fluttering on a song and who can speak pretty well too. A pigeon, however, is a non-vocal student, would he have the ability to perceive the rhythm at which he is supposed to move?

There is evidence that some non-vocal learners are able to tap into rhythms, including sea lions and chimpanzees. As a person who works with seals and sea lions, the study with Ronan, the California Sea Lion, really caught my eye.

Researchers at the University of Santa Cruz in the United States showed, after months of training, that Ronan was able to change his pace, including Backstreet Boys' Everybody (Backstreet's Back). This suggests that vocal learning is not essential for beat matching – careful training and exposure to beats and sounds can also help develop this behavior.

Ronan took a long time to learn this behavior and showed no evidence of spontaneous pairing of beats – she could not hear the rhythm and instinctively move on the beat, she had to be trained to do so. I was really interested in exploring if other sea lions could do spontaneous beat matching. A previous study that I worked on showed that sea lions performed repetitive, cyclic and rhythmic movements when balancing the ball to keep it on the nose. In particular, they made "goaltenders" or big heads to maintain the ball's balance. I decided to focus on these movements and determine if they were changing pace with the tempo of a complex time.

To create the rhythm, I partnered with Jingyu Chen, composer of the Royal Northern College of Music. Jingyu has designed songs that match the tempo of slow, medium and fast head movements when balancing the ball. Until now, it seems that the spontaneous pairing of beats does not occur in sea lions. Rather than with a lot of patience, drive, fish treats and exposure to music, some animals seem to get there in the end.

Now let's think about the pigeon. He's probably not trained and is not a vocal student – you've never heard a pigeon parrot make you the phrase – so he's probably unable to perceive the rhythms of the music. In fact, after a thorough inspection of the video, it seems that the pigeon is not really moving to the rhythm of the music.

Although the music is complex, the sound of the pigeon is a simple rhythm that is likely to adapt to many different melodies. Therefore, it is unlikely that the pigeon in this video will dance. Despite the first appearances, he does not move like Jagger.

This does not mean that pigeons can not go to music. They naturally adopt rhythmic behaviors and can, like the sea lion, be able to sing to the beat of the music. They just need a little time, treats and an exposure to music.