Snowball is a world famous cockatoo who even has his own Wikipedia entry. The bird is famous because he can dance. And how! Dr Patel and his researchers recently published an article in "Current Biology" about Snowball and other dancing animals after extensive study. Yes, Snowball is actually dancing: his movements and leg lifts slow when the music slows.
The whole idea of the research was to prove the hypothesis that some animals, like humans, have evolved the capacity to mimic sounds they hear; this can lead to talking and dance. To further their research, Patel's team searched YouTube for videos of other dancing animals. Of about 1,000 such videos, 33 showed convincing evidence of animals following the musical beat: 14 types of of parrots and one elephant (yes, it is a recently established fact that elephants are vocal mimics).
The conclusion: some animals, like Snowball, have great rhythm.
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What about my favorite animal - dogs???
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