News:
Bird boogies for science
Posted by Elie Dolgin
[Entry posted at 18th June 2009 02:20 PM GMT]

Everybody, yeah.
Rock your body, yeah.
Everybody, yeah.
Rock your body right.
Snowball's back, alright.

Snowball, the dancing cockatoo of YouTube fame, made an encore performance last Saturday (June 13) at the World Science Festival as part of Avian Einsteins, a panel discussion on the parallels between bird and human brains. Joined by several of the world's leading bird biologists -- including Duke University's Erich Jarvis, University of Cambridge's Nicola Clayton, Brandeis University's Irene Pepperberg, and City College New York's Ofer Tchernichovski -- Snowball boogied to his favorite song, Everybody by the Backstreet Boys. Last month, researchers at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, Calif., manipulated the tune's tempo and showed that the sulphur-crested cockatoo could adjust its dancing rhythm to different beats; the first known non-human to exhibit that skill. You can watch Snowball and all the panelists shaking their tail feathers at New York University's Skirball Center here:




Related stories:
  • Watching wisdom
    [12th June 2009]
  • PhDs (People Having Dance-offs)
    [21st November 2008]
  • Individuality, evolution, and dancing
    [13th June 2005]

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