Head-Bobbing Sea Lion Is First Non-Human Mammal to Keep Rhythm
Meet Ronan, a sea lion blowing scientists' minds with her ability to bob her head to the beat of music. Researchers at the University of California in Santa Cruz have trained Ronan to keep rhythm and the result is reshaping our understanding of how this trait is acquired.
Before Ronan, scientists thought only animals capable of vocal mimicry—humans and select birds that can repeat our language, like parrots and cockatoos—could be taught rhythm. Exhibit A: this dancing cockatoo. But this four-year-old sea lion is breaking that theory.
Ronan was played a simple metronome at first, and when she bobbed her head with in time she was rewarded with a fish. Eventually, Ronan bobbed along to the beat of pop tunes. Today she can spontaneously head bang to tracks she's never heard before! Perhaps her trainers should play Metallica or Skrillex.
Watch Ronan rock out to Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" and "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire (which is reportedly her favorite song) above. Then imagine this: Snoop Lion collaborating with a Sea Lion. Heavy.
1h 21m
2m
22m
21m
42m
1m
45m
21m
21m
14m
6m
7m
1m
1m
1m
1m
24m
1m
30s
2m
1m
1m
1m
1m
2m
6m
21m
44m
20m
21m
8m
6m
1m
1m
20m
41m
1h 35m
20m
57m
1h 25m
1m
41m
21m
2m
3m
21m
4m
56s
1m
1m
1m
1m
1m
10m
6m
1m
51s
21m
17m
1m
54s
46m
20m
1h 43m
45m
23m
21m
1h 16m
1m
2m
20m
20m
22m
46m
1h 21m
2m
45m
41s
41m
20m
20m
41m
20m
56m
1m
2m
6m
1h 39m
44s
1m
20m
8m
6m
30s
1m
1m
41m
21m