Latest news with #TecumsehFitch
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Ronan the Sea Lion Is Probably Better Than You at Keeping a Beat
This is Ronan. She's a California sea lion and she probably has better rhythm than you. Scientists earlier showed that Ronan, a resident of the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was the first nonhuman mammal who could be trained to keep a beat, including moving in time with music. That was in 2013 when Ronan was young. Researchers recently decided to test the 15-year-old sea lion's skills again and showed that not only had she improved her ability to bob her head in sync with beats, but she is even better than most humans at doing so. 'I think that it demonstrates conclusively that humans are not the only mammals able to keep a beat,' said Tecumseh Fitch, a cognitive biologist who studies biomusicology at the University of Vienna and wasn't involved in the new study, which was published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. Parrots are known to be able to keep a beat by moving their bodies. And recent studies have highlighted the beat-keeping capabilities of other mammals, such as monkeys and rats. But after more than a decade, 'Ronan the sea lion's rhythmic entrainment is clearly the best known in nonhuman vertebrates,' Dr. Fitch said. The researchers trained Ronan for a few months, focusing on enhancing her precision with the old tempos on which she was trained in the past. Then, they looked at how good Ronan was at keeping a beat compared with when she was 3 years old — showing that she improved her skills as she matured. Then, the team tested Ronan's ability to move her head in time with tempos of 112, 120 and 128 beats per minute and compared it with the ability of 10 people aged 18 to 23 to move their arm in time with those same tempos. 'The hand is like the sea lion's head, and the arm is like the sea lion's neck, and it's about the same size, so they can move through the same amount of space and do the task,' said Peter Cook, a cognitive neuroscientist with a specialization in marine mammals at New College of Florida. Video Human participants and Ronan performed comparable rhythmic tasks at 112 beats per minute. Credit Credit... University of California Santa Cruz, NMFS 23554 Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
BBC News
03-04-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Monkeys better at yodelling than humans according to scientists
If you want to get better at singing you might think to go to a singing teacher, but it turns out that might not necessarily be the best idea.A new study suggests that when it comes to yodelling, you might be better taking notes from a is a singing style known for its quick and frequent changes between low and high-pitched study suggests that monkeys can make these speedy vocal flip-flops far better than it isn't a case of practice makes perfect, it's down to special structures in their throats instead. Scientists recorded and studied the calls of different species of monkey at a sanctuary in Bolivia in South used special scans and computer simulations as part of their study found that the structures in the throats of apes and monkeys, called vocal membranes, let them use voice breaks in their to the researchers, we once had these membranes too. But Professor Tecumseh Fitch, who is one of the authors of the study says "they may have been lost during human evolution to promote pitch stability in singing and speech". The study found that not all monkeys are equally good at found that Latin American monkeys had the largest vocal membranes of all the primates the Jacob Dunn, who is an associate professor in evolutionary biology, suggests the special structures allow the monkeys to create a wider range of said it's likely this has evolved over time and could be used for "attention grabbing" or "identifying themselves" amongst other monkeys.
