Also she is a very charming sea lion.
By Colin Lecher Posted 04.01.2013 at 5:31 pm 5 Comments

Meet Ronan. She is a sea lion at the University of California, Santa Cruz and also a very competent dancer. According to her trainer, she's also the first non-human mammal that can independently keep a beat.

Parrots and other birds have been known to dance to a beat, but up until now, it wasn't clear if they were the only ones with a sense of rhythm. The leading theory (partially sparked by videos like the one below) was that a capacity for vocal mimicry was a prerequisite for recognizing a beat.

But even though sea lions aren't the most vocally gifted, Ronan was successfully trained to bob her head along with a beat for a reward, then could bob her head along to songs she hadn't heard, too. Until everyone sees this video, Ronan, dance like no one's watching.

[University of California, Santa Cruz]

5 Comments

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Mukuro Holmes
04/01/13 at 6:12 pm

The sea lion and parrot are so cute when they keep the beat.

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vt007
04/01/13 at 8:32 pm

well language isnt exclusive to speaking speacies eather... look up the elephant who speaks 3 non random words with its trump

comon guys we are just a little bit ahead of other animals, why think they cant do things that we can ^^

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No facts, No response...

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alain
04/02/13 at 3:08 am

Lets the Parrot and the sea Lion meet and dance together, now That's a video worth showing!


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