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Can animals enjoy music?Follow

#1 Aug 26 2012 at 1:23 PM Rating: Excellent
There was a story on my Facebook timeline from NPR about Shanthi, an Asian elephant, who enjoys making all kinds of sounds. The zookeepers say that if a lock makes a sound, she flips it over and over to hear it. She blows air over the holes that they drill in toys to make sounds. She flaps her ears against things to make noises. So they decided to put a harmonica up and see what happens. And, no surprise IMHO, she started blowing into the harmonica and making noises.

But is it just making noises? In the video below, if you don't want to listen to the zookeepers talk, skip ahead to about 1:48 and listen to the noises she makes. Just before this part, there are a few blank slides explaining how the video came about (they were giving another elephant a bath and heard Shanthi playing her harmonica so they rushed out to video tape it), and also states that Shanthi is given no clues whatsoever about when to exhale, inhale, or stop.



So what do you think? Is this the equivalent of animals enjoying their own type of music? Or is it more like a toddler on the kitchen floor with pots and pans, reveling in mommy's attention?
#2 Aug 26 2012 at 1:27 PM Rating: Good
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The elephant is probably trying to reproduce the music heard on NPR.

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#3 Aug 26 2012 at 1:58 PM Rating: Excellent
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I had a cat that liked Latin music. Never reacted to any other beat.
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#4 Aug 26 2012 at 2:00 PM Rating: Good
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Samira wrote:
I had a cat that liked Latin music. Never reacted to any other beat.


Did your cat play guitar?

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#5 Aug 26 2012 at 2:02 PM Rating: Good
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Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
Samira wrote:
I had a cat that liked Latin music. Never reacted to any other beat.
Did your cat play guitar?
Nope.
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#6 Aug 26 2012 at 2:20 PM Rating: Good
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This thread is now about gay animals in the military. Also, women's rights. You'll not circumvent the Almamachine so easily, terrorists!
#7 Aug 26 2012 at 4:11 PM Rating: Good
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Elephants are so cool.

I think animals enjoying music is an obvious thing. We've all seen dogs howling along with someone else singing, or playing the piano. My dog absolutely loves it when I sing to him, and used to sit in front of my ex and stare at him while he played guitar.

Quote:
Or is it more like a toddler on the kitchen floor with pots and pans, reveling in mommy's attention?


I think even this question confirms that it's innate for an animal to enjoy music, like humans. Hell, there are toddlers out there with more musical talent in their pots in pans than I've ever produced in my life.

Really, though, elephants are smarter than us.
#8 Aug 26 2012 at 4:37 PM Rating: Good
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My cat doesn't react at all to most music I play but a while ago I was watching I Walk The Line and my cat sat on my lap staring at the screen whenever there was a song. I think he liked Johnny Cash and I can only approve of that.
#9 Aug 26 2012 at 4:53 PM Rating: Good
Guenny wrote:
My dog absolutely loves it when I sing to him [...]


Akira likes it when I read to her, I think. She lays on my book whenever I'm sitting with one on my lap or laying with it in front of me on the bed. So when I was studying, I shifted her around and started reading it to her. She stared at my face for a while.

Then she tried to lick my eyes to see if I was crying, because my dog is evil and loves to drink sweet tears of unhappiness.
#10 Aug 26 2012 at 9:40 PM Rating: Good
My cat likes to hear me sing. If I start humming to myself (or go into full throated operatic vocal if I know I'm alone in the house), I'll probably have a cat in my lap or following me around wanting to be picked up shortly afterward. I think he thinks I'm doing a human purr for him.
#11 Aug 27 2012 at 6:08 AM Rating: Good
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If other species have an emotion that is similar to joy, then yes I think they can enjoy music and whatever it might bring.

Birds make music, so do whales and others. It likely has purpose, but hey if it gets ya laid, it's enjoyable right?
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#12 Aug 27 2012 at 1:26 PM Rating: Good
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Quote:
but hey if it gets ya laid, it's enjoyable right?


And again, the motivations of animals are perfectly in line with the motivations of humans.
#13 Aug 27 2012 at 1:55 PM Rating: Good
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My dog pretty much ignores music. She'll occasionally perk up and listen to it, but that's only if there's a simple, unusual tone ringing in it, or it sounds vaguely like an animal (high-pitched, bird-like chirp noises will often get her attention). I think the complexity of the noise makes her tune out.

She doesn't have the slightest interest in mirrors, either, or anything on a monitor unless it's making an interesting noise like that (she won't pay attention to a dog on the TV or computer unless it's barking or whining, and even then she quickly loses interest). Dunno if that's unusual or not.

If anything, anywhere, makes a squeaky toy noise, though, it's like the end of the world. She thinks there's one somewhere in the room that she just can't find.

Edited, Aug 27th 2012 3:57pm by Eske
#14 Aug 27 2012 at 2:00 PM Rating: Good
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A squid can enjoy music if you take a dead one, connect speaker wire to its nerve endings, and pump Cypress Hill into it.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/26/cypress-hill-played-through-a-squid-insane-in-the-membrane-indeed/
#15 Aug 27 2012 at 2:06 PM Rating: Good
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My (smart) dog has interesting skills, like she knows what's going on behind her in the mirror. She used to "nonchalantly" keep her eye on us through a full-length mirror we used to have in our living room. I'm assuming that being able to recognize us and our facial expressions in a mirror is just one step away from recognizing herself.
#16 Aug 27 2012 at 2:09 PM Rating: Excellent
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Eske Esquire wrote:
She doesn't have the slightest interest in mirrors, either, or anything on a monitor unless it's making an interesting noise like that (she won't pay attention to a dog on the TV or computer unless it's barking or whining, and even then she quickly loses interest). Dunno if that's unusual or not.

We used to have a cat that would stalk the television when I played nature documentaries featuring small animals. It was one of those things where the first few times he'd just crouch on the table by the TV then turned into quickly trying to remove the cat as he pounced into the TV screen and threatened to knock the flat screen over.

Given that it was a 46" television, I have no idea what his cat brain thought he was going to do with a 36" long pika once he caught it.

Edited, Aug 27th 2012 3:10pm by Jophiel
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#17 Aug 27 2012 at 2:10 PM Rating: Good
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Guenny wrote:
Quote:
but hey if it gets ya laid, it's enjoyable right?


And again, the motivations of animals are perfectly in line with the motivations of humans.
Strip off the fancy covering and we're all just hairy beasts underneath.


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#18 Aug 27 2012 at 2:16 PM Rating: Good
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Jophiel wrote:
Eske Esquire wrote:
She doesn't have the slightest interest in mirrors, either, or anything on a monitor unless it's making an interesting noise like that (she won't pay attention to a dog on the TV or computer unless it's barking or whining, and even then she quickly loses interest). Dunno if that's unusual or not.

We used to have a cat that would stalk the television when I played nature documentaries featuring small animals. It was one of those things where the first few times he'd just crouch on the table by the TV then turned into quickly trying to remove the cat as he pounced into the TV screen and threatened to knock the flat screen over.

Given that it was a 46" television, I have no idea what his cat brain thought he was going to do with a 36" long pika once he caught it.


Smiley: lol

On a semi-related note, I'm reminded that our dog ran full-speed into the screen door last weekend. Smiley: facepalm

Edited, Aug 27th 2012 4:17pm by Eske
#19 Aug 27 2012 at 2:36 PM Rating: Good
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Elinda wrote:
Guenny wrote:
Quote:
but hey if it gets ya laid, it's enjoyable right?


And again, the motivations of animals are perfectly in line with the motivations of humans.
Strip off the fancy covering and we're all just hairy beasts underneath.




What if my fancy covering was body wax?
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#20 Aug 27 2012 at 5:16 PM Rating: Good
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Elinda wrote:
Strip off the fancy covering and we're all just hairy beasts underneath.

Adam and Eve not Fido and Fifi.
Jophiel wrote:
I have no idea what his cat brain thought he was going to do with a 36" long pika once he caught it.

Probably chu it in his meowth.

Edited, Aug 27th 2012 6:19pm by Allegory
#21 Aug 28 2012 at 7:13 AM Rating: Good
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