Sea lion is first non-human mammal shown to keep a beat

Ronan, a sea lion at the University of California Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Laboratory is the first non-human mammal to show that she can move to the rhythms of a song, in this case the funky beats of Earth, Wind & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland.

The ability to keep a beat is innate for us humans – at least most of us. But it is rare to find this ability in other animals. Previously, only birds with talents for vocal mimicry were thought to possess rhythmic ability in the animal kingdom, and so it was thought that vocal mimicy and keeping a beat might be somehow linked.

I was aware that some parrots, like mine, can do this. But, I was not aware that it was indigenous to humans.



Pretty cool though.

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Very cool! I made sure to tease my fiance about this as he can't keep a beat very well....lol. Maybe I need to reward him with a sardine when he does!

reply to post by phantomjack


I wish they would have shown a greater range of bpm (Rhythms), he seemed to be doing around the same one, i wonder if its following the song or just repeating the behavior its been taught.

That's amazing, looks like he was enjoying it too!

There is a YouTube video of a cockatoo called Snowdrop dancing to one of the same tunes (Back Strreet Boys) which is also quite incredible. Not sure how to provide a link using an iPad but I know someone will.