Why do cockatoos dance

But even that would be an impressive feat for a parrot, Patel said. This article is more than 2 years old. Block-rocking beaks: Snowball the cockatoo — reviewed by our dance critic. Read more. Topics Animal behaviour Birds Animals news.

Reuse this content. Neurobiologist Aniruddh Patel saw the video and it led him to wonder whether Snowball simply was doing a trick, or whether cockatoos actually were capable of spontaneously moving to a beat the way humans do. What Snowball and other parrots did was very unusual; they could move to different songs at varying speeds. When Patel changed the speed of the music, Snowball kept the beat no matter how slow or fast Patel made the song. This means cockatoos are capable of understanding a beat and moving to it the same way humans do.

Traits such as self-awareness, culture, tool use, theory of mind and morality were once thought to be unique to humans. But recent studies show many animals share these traits to some degree. By Michael Le Page Snowball the dancing cockatoo Irena Schulz The idea that we humans have lots of unique abilities that animals lack has taken a battering in recent years — and now coming up with complex dance moves can be removed from the rapidly shrinking list. Read more: Swinging birds play with rhythm like jazz musicians.

Read on to discover why these beautiful birds dance, and how to encourage such behavior. Crest Position Some birds, like cockatiels, cockatoos and hawk-headed parrots, have crest feathers that the bird raises or lowers to indicate emotional state. Head Bobbing Head bobbing can indicate that a bird is anxious to go somewhere, or perhaps he is regurgitating to you in an effort to bond with you.

Contrary to Darwin, Patel believes that the ability to track new and changing beats occurs only in certain species with complex vocal learning—birds, cetaceans, elephants, bats.

However, most studies suggest that birds in motion bob their heads to stabilize their visual surroundings. In comparison, we rely more on our eye movements, not our head movements, to catch and hold images while in motion. Overall, parrots tend to enjoy music with a catchy beat they can dance to like pop, rock and folk music, according to Dr.

Birds brighten our lives. Instead they excrete nitrogenous wastes in the form of uric acid, which emerges as a white paste. They often express their anger or excitement by head bobbing. You can notice your parrot doing head bobbing when it is feeling excited. Many parrots get excited when they hear their favorite music.