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How Animals, Birds and Fishes React To Music?


Every living creature reacts differently to different music. Apart from humans, other creatures like animals, birds and even fishes react to music. Reactions of them are more interesting, even if a human plays or they play themselves.

Animals are empathetic when they listen to music and react with emotions and behaviour in a strange and frightening manner similar to our own. Let us understand how animals, birds and fishes react to music.


Dogs Feel Less Stressed

The researchers played a few different kinds of music to the dogs, including classical, heavy metal, and altered classical music. The study says that the behaviour, activity levels, body shaking, and vocalization of the 100+ kenneled dogs observed and found that the dogs slept the most while listening to all kinds of classical music, showing that it helped them relax.

The dogs had the opposite reaction to metal music, which provoked increased body shaking, a sign of nervousness. The researchers suggested that music can reduce agitation, promote sleep, improve mood, and lower stress and anxiety. They also point out that heavy metal music has anxiety effects, even on some humans.


Scientists Create Music That Felines Enjoy

Cats/felines are indifferent to human music. A psychologist, a composer, and a PhD student have developed music that contains frequencies and tempos similar to the ones cats used to communicate. They played music with the cats, including two classical songs, and two songs developed for felines.

When the researchers played the latter, the cat was more likely to move towards the speaker, or even rub up against it. Interestingly, young and old cats reacted to the cat songs the most positively. Middle-aged cats showed more indifference.


Music Made Monkey Relax

In 2009, for the study, the scientists played the music for tamarin monkeys. The calming songs made monkeys relax. They even ate more while listening to those songs. But when the researchers played music that contained sounds similar to ones the monkeys make when they’re expressing fear, the monkeys became nervous. The monkeys were mostly indifferent to human music, and their behaviour didn't noticeably change.


Cows Produce More Milk

In 2001, researchers played various songs to 1000-strong herds of Friesian dairy cows. Over nine weeks, they alternated between fast music, slow music, and silence for 12 hours each day. They found that calming music resulted in the cows producing 3 per cent more milk that is 0.73 litres per cow per day. Probably because it reduces the stress of the cows.


Elephant Plays Music Better Than Human

We already know elephants for their ability to paint with their trunks, but they might be musically capable too. 16 elephants play specially developed instruments like steel drums and even harmonicas. Neuroscientists studies say that the Thai Elephant Orchestra has determined that the animals can keep a very stable tempo on a large drum. Even more stable than a human.


Bird Brain React Similar To Human Brain

Researchers wondering whether birds are making music as humans do. Birds are probably the most well-known singers of the animal kingdom. To find out, they examined the brains of both male and female white-tailed sparrows as they listened to the sounds of male birds.

When humans listen to music, our brain often lights up in response. The female white-tailed sparrows had similar brain responses to the bird sounds. The part of their brain that's like the brain lit up while listening to the male’s song.

The male birds had brain reactions similar to when humans listen to music they don’t like. They found that it activates the same neural reward system in female birds in the breeding state listening to male birdsong, and in humans listening to music that they like.


Fish Identifies The Difference Between Composers

A 2013 study said that researchers used pieces of music by two composers. Their goal was to train the goldfish to gnaw on a ball filled with food when the correct composer’s music was playing. Each group of fishes got songs composed by two different composers. When the fish heard music, they went to gnaw on the ball rewarded with food.

Once the fish were correlating a composer’s music with the reward, the researchers tried playing the other composer’s music. The goldfish didn’t gnaw on the ball at that point, showing that they knew enough about the pitch and timbre of their composer to not associate the novel music with food.


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How Animals, Birds and Fishes React To Music? How Animals, Birds and Fishes React To Music? Reviewed by Goldsmth on September 04, 2020 Rating: 5

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