This Cockatoo Can't Resist a Beat: Teaches Himself To Dance with 'Moves' That Baffle Scientists
Birds are truly amazing creatures and have been known to do incredible things. Some perform tricks at the zoo while others repeat what you say in the comfort of your own living room.
But how smart are they really? Is what a bird does all based on training and rewards? Or is there more to this species than first catches the eye?
One cockatoo from Indiana is proving that he has quite the mind of his own. You may remember “Snowball” from his 2007 YouTube debut, dancing to the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody.”
The video went viral with over 6 million views to date. Some might write this off as an easy trick: the bird dances, he gets a treat.
Think again. According to those closest to this white-feathered friend, Snowball likes to rock n’ roll without any prompting from humans.
“Snowball developed this behavior spontaneously,” a cognitive scientist at Tufts University, Aniruddh D. Patel, told The Washington Post. “He was never given a food reward for any of this. He was never taught to make dance moves.“
Patel is also a senior author on a 2019 study published by “Current Biology.” The study focuses on Snowball’s spontaneous behaviors and suggests that movement to music is not unique to humans.
A new video breaks down Snowball’s moves into 14 unique types, all of which the cockatoo reportedly taught himself with no punishment or reward system imposed from his owners.
Not only can this amazing bird “headbang” but he can also do a “body roll” and even knows how to do what researchers have dubbed the “Vogue.”
If you don’t believe it’s possible, just watch this guy in the video below, where each discrete dance move is identified and named while Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” plays.
“It helps show that this is a more complex cognitive ability than we had even first imagined,” Patel told The Post.
The scientist went on to note that “there’s complex vocal learning. There’s the ability to imitate nonvocal movements. There’s the tendency to form long-term social bonds, because Snowball seems to do this as a social bonding behavior.”
And, come to find out, Snowball isn’t the only bird getting jiggy with it. According to The Post, researchers also discovered that “nine other pet parrot species, from green-winged macaws and black-capped lories to black-masked lovebirds and Alexandrine parakeets” all showed evidence of “true dancing.”
Have you ever seen anything like what this bird can do? Do you believe the scientists’ findings, or do you think this is just another viral video trick? It’s hard to ignore the evidence.
Those moves don’t lie. How does the saying go — you can’t teach an old bird new tricks? If you ask me, it seems Snowball might be able to teach us humans a few tricks of his own.
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