So, you think you can dance?
Animals dance, too. They don’t all do it quite the same way we do, but they often shake their stuff for the same reasons (showing off for the opposite sex) and sometimes for vastly more complex ones. See our list of animals with smooth moves.
Red-Capped Manakin Bird
The first time the world saw Michael Jackson moonwalk (3:37) we went collectively bananas, wondering if we really saw what we thought we saw.
The first time you see video of the red-capped manakin bird ((Pipra mentalis) doing the moonwalk you’ll probably think the exact same thing. The red-capped manakin lives in Central and South American and the males do this fancy footwork to attract females.
Males congregate in courtship displays called leks, where each will choose an easily seen perch (their stage for the whole mating season).
There they will pivot, moonwalk, circle in flight, and show off their neon yellow leggings. They’ll even provide a little sound with the show, snapping, flapping and buzzing, which the ladies might enjoy but which is also a signal to wards off rivals. It’s a big display for a bird that only weighs about 15 grams (about a half an ounce, or as much as about six pennies).
Peacock Spider
Another heavenly hoofer is the itsy bitsy peacock spider, Maratus volans. The male is only 0.1 inch (55 millimeters) long but puts on the most thrilling dance since Thriller, with spins, bows, and a brilliantly colored abdominal fan.
He waves this ornament at the female while intermittently vibrating, like a peacock displaying his spectacular tail (only peacocks, to the best of our knowledge, don’t do jazz hands). To some people the fans distinctly suggest facial features, almost like a colorful tribal mask. To the more drably colored female peacock spiders it probably just looks hot (who doesn’t like a man who can dance?)
Color, rhythm, and it can jump 40 times its body length - this is a happening spider. See? When you’ve got style size doesn’t matter.
Parrots
You (well, most of you) have a skill called entrainment, meaning you’re able to move in sync with a beat. In fact, sometimes you probably can’t help yourself.
In these amazing videos, Snowball, the sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) and Alex, the late and famously intelligent African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus) seem like they can’t help themselves either.
Having rhythm was thought by many to be a purely human trait, but these birds show that’s probably not the case. Researchers Aniruddh Patel and Adena Schachner who were studying Snowball and Alex respectively found that both birds showed evidence of truly having rhythm: They adjusted to tempo changes and responded to music that was new to them. (Related: “Birds Can Dance, Experts (And Zany Videos) Reveal.“)
Both teams think “vocal learning,” the ability to imitate sounds, which requires coordination between hearing and motor skills, is key to entrainment. Schachner’s research team reviewed YouTube videos of “dancing” animals and found that only those with vocal learning seemed to show evidence of entrainment, including parrots and the Asian elephant. (Also watch a video of a sea lion bopping to the beat.)
Add to wish list: video of a elephant foot-stompin’ (like Snowball) to Another One Bites the Dust.
READ MORE: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/06/dancing-animals-with-some-serious-moves/
Source: nationalgeographic / MJ-Upbeat.com
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