This sea lion can keep a beat better than some humans

While humans may have cornered the market on writing songs (including public safety inspired bangers), rhythm itself is more widespread across the animal kingdom. And some animals could have better rhythm than us Homo sapiens. One trained California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) named Ronan can keep a beat better than some people, according to a new study published May 1 in the journal Scientific Reports. 

Meet Ronan

In lab settings, other non-human animals have shown some ability to move in time to a range of regular rhythms. Some bird species can be very precise, but do not necessarily maintain that persistence over time. Primates can be persistent, but have more trouble synchronizing their movements. 

And then there is Ronan, a 15-year-old California sea lion. After stranding on land due to malnutrition three times–and being spotted on a busy highway–she was deemed non-releasable. The University of California – Santa Cruz adopted her in 2010 and she has been a permanent member of the Pinniped Lab since. 

In 2013, Ronan was trained to bob her head in time to the pulse of a metronome. This original study was inspired by the work of a team at Tufts University who studied timekeeping in a pet cockatoo named Snowball–who spontaneously “danced” along to the Backstreet Boys.

“We originally trained and tested Ronan on beat keeping about 13 years ago, when she was three years old,” Peter Cook, a study co-author and comparative psychologist, tells Popular Science. “At the time, she was the most persistent and precise non-human beat keeper. Today, that’s still true. However, over the intervening years, a number of theorists and researchers have pointed out that Ronan’s initial performance had some key differences from what we typically see in adult humans.”

Ronan was slightly more variable beat to beat than adult humans. She also tended to hit ahead of the beat when listening to slower stimuli and behind the beat on the faster stimuli. By comparison, humans in lab studies tend to be more precise and hit right ahead of the beat regardless of tempo. 

Scientists increasingly began to question if Ronan’s stellar performance remains the standard for non-human animals when it comes to flexible musical rhythm. As with many musicians at the top of their craft, it’s a bit lonely in the spotlight–on stage or in a saltwater pool. 

“In a sense, Ronan is carrying the scientific weight of all non-human animals in this field on her shoulders,” says Cook. “She’s the best non-human, but if she’s not as good as humans, maybe basic human rhythm ability really is unique in the animal kingdom.”

Putting beats to the test

To put Ronan’s beat keeping to the test, the team designed an experiment to assess Ronan’s consistency and coordination in moving in time to the beat of a snare drum. They beat a snare drum at 112, 120, and 128 beats per minute (bpm). 

They then presented these same sounds to 10 undergraduate students between 18 and 23 years old and asked them to chop their hand in time to the drum beat. The team used video tracking software to monitor how precise the undergraduate’s timekeeping was. 

Overall, Ronan’s timekeeping was more accurate and less variable than the human test subjects. Ronan’s accuracy also increased with the tempo. At the tempo of 128 bpm, her average tempo was 129 bpm. The human subject’s average was only 116.2 bpm After completing the test, Ronan was rewarded with a toy filled with fish and ice.

According to Cook, a lot of the previous studies on animal beat keeping and rhythm compared to human studies involved using more fine motor skills, such as pressing a button or a key.

“Once we actually made humans make bigger gross motor movements though, it was genuinely surprising how variable the humans were in terms of ability,” says Cook. “A couple of the humans in our study were terrible at beat keeping! Humans can get very very good at rhythm (look at professional drummers). But, in general, humans are probably way less precise and consistent than scientists have generally considered them. We improve a lot with age, experience, and training. But we’re far from perfect.”

[ Related: This Sea Lion Is The First Non-Human Mammal That Can Keep A Beat On Its Own. ]

‘Humans are animals’

Since this study only tested time-keeping with one trained sea lion and 10 humans, larger studies are needed to see if these findings can be replicated. The team is already exploring Ronan’s ability to move in time to predictable, but more irregular rhythms–decelerating and accelerating stimuli, more complex patterns, etc. They’re designing computer-based timing games that could help us better understand timing and pattern recognition across species. 

“Humans are animals. The more we look, the more we find that human capabilities exist in other species,” says Cook. “To understand the human mind, how humans think and act, we need to examine the foundation of our behavior and cognition. Studying other species provides a window into just that.”

One variable should remain consistent as this team searches for answers to these higher cognitive questions: Ronan herself. 

“Ronan is in her rhythmic prime, and is the perfect research animal to help us answer the next set of questions about rhythm in non-humans,” says Cook. 

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