A cockatoo named Snowball was able to choreograph 14 fly dance moves on his own — including headbanging, and even Vogueing — showing that spontaneously moving to music isn’t unique to humans, a study published Monday found.
The prancing parrot rose to YouTube fame a decade ago over a video of him foot-tapping and head-bobbing to “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys.
Now, the study published in the journal Current Biology, shows the yellow-crested bird wasn’t just mirroring his owner, but can actually impulsively move to music, creating a variety of steps on his own.
“What’s most interesting to us is the sheer diversity of his movements to music,” said senior author Aniruddh Patel, a psychologist at Tufts University and Harvard University, noting that Snowball developed the elaborate moves without training.
