Cockatoos that feel the beat perform 30 distinct dance moves, study shows
Researchers have analysed 45 social media videos of cockatoos dancing and identified 30 distinct movements, 17 of which had never been documented before.
In the study, published today in the journal PLOS One, researchers found some cockatoos had their own signature moves, unique to each individual, while other species appeared to favour different styles.
To further investigate the behaviour of the cockatoos, the research team went beyond the screen and into the field to Wagga Wagga Zoo in New South Wales.
There, they studied six cockatoos, including two Major Mitchells, two sulphur-crested cockatoos and two galahs.
Over a 20-minute period, each bird experienced either silence, music or a podcast.
Lead researcher Natasha Lubke chose the playlist, opting for Avicii's The Nights for the music and She's on the Money for the podcast.
"It's a great podcast. We're just educating the birds on their finances," Ms Lubke joked.
One particularly enthusiastic Major Mitchell cockatoo made a total of 257 moves in sequence while listening to a 20-minute loop of The Nights.
In both parts of the study — the online video analysis and the zoo observation — dancing was observed in 10 of the 21 known cockatoo species in the Cacatuidae family of the parrot species.
Many of the dance moves were similar to courtship displays, indicating their dancing may have originated as courtship behaviour that has been redirected towards their owners.
Spontaneous dancing in time to music had only been officially recorded in humans until Snowball, the sulphur-crested cockatoo, went viral for dancing to the Backstreet Boys more than a decade ago.
In 2019, in a Current Biology study, professor of psychology at Tufts University, Aniruddh Patel, and his colleagues explored Snowball's ability to dance spontaneously, challenging the long-held belief that sophisticated movement to music was uniquely human.
The study showed that Snowball developed 16 distinct moves without any formal training to dance.
But it was not known if other cockatoos would develop other moves, or if a parrot's dance moves were largely determined by its genetic makeup as a member of a particular species.
"By studying dancing to music in numerous parrots across several species, the new study found 17 new moves, and also showed that relatedness between species did not predict how similar the dance moves of different parrots were," Professor Patel said.
While it may seem like an amusing curiosity, for scientists it raises many questions.
"Why is this behaviour seen in parrots but not in our closest living relatives — chimpanzees and bonobos — when raised by humans?" Professor Patel said.
"After all, ape brains are much closer to ours in size and overall structure than parrot brains are, and genetically parrots are more closely related to extinct dinosaurs than to humans."
Scientists are developing neuroscientific theories to explain the mystery of why dancing to music emerges without any special training in some human-raised parrots but not in human-raised apes.
It's still unclear what motivates cockatoos to dance.
Ms Lubke has a theory.
"That rules out the theory they're just dancing because people are dancing. I think they're definitely dancing, and it appears to be a form of play behaviour — they're doing it because they're in a positive welfare state."
Researchers hope the discovery could lead to new ways to enrich the lives of captive birds — particularly intelligent parrots who may suffer in environments lacking stimulation.
"The similarities with human dancing make it hard to argue against well-developed cognitive and emotional processes in parrots," said co-author Rafael Freire, an expert in animal behaviour.
"Playing music to parrots may improve their welfare," Professor Freire said.
"Further research would be beneficial to determine if music can trigger dance in captive birds and serve as a form of environmental enrichment."
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