Combinatory sound object play in cockatiels: a forerunner of music?
In: BehaviourSearch for other papers by Mathilde Le Covec in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Carla Aimé in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Dalila Bovet in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
An interest in producing sounds during play behaviour might be a forerunner for music. Thus, we explored object play behaviour involving sounds in cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus). We provided them with several objects producing sounds and recorded sound production, spontaneous warbles and drumming during breeding, pre- and post-breeding. Birds manipulated the objects in a playful way. They manipulated them less during breeding than during pre- and post-breeding, but the proportion of manipulations producing sounds were higher during post-breeding and breeding than during pre-breeding. Males manipulated the objects more frequently and produced more sounds than females. Youngsters manipulated the objects more than adults. One bird repeatedly put a bell on a xylophone; we discuss several possible explanations for the behaviour, including tool use. Only males warbled and drummed, and during breeding only. Our results suggest an enriching effect of the objects on the birds. Many aspects of musicality remain to be studied.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Auersperg, A.M.I., von Bayern, A.M.P., Gajdon, G.K., Huber, L. & Kacelnik, A. (2011). Flexibility in problem solving and tool use of kea and New Caledonian crows in a multi access box paradigm. — PLoS ONE 6: e20231.
-
Auersperg, A.M.I., Szabo, B., von Bayern, A.M.P. & Kacelnik, A. (2012). Spontaneous innovation in tool manufacture and use in a Goffin’s cockatoo. — Curr. Biol. 22: 903-904.
-
Auersperg, A.M.I., Oswald, M., Domanegg, M., Gajdon, J.K. & Bugnyar, T. (2014). Unrewarded object combinations in captive parrots. — Anim. Behav. Cogn. 1: 470-488.
-
Auersperg, A.M.I., van Horik, J.O., Bugnyar, T., Kacelnik, A., Emery, N.J. & von Bayern, A.M.P. (2015). Combinatory actions during object play in psittaciformes (Diopsittaca nobilis, Pionites melanocephala, Cacatua goffini) and corvids (Corvus corax, C. monedula, C. moneduloides). — J. Comp. Psychol. 129: 62-71.
-
Borsari, A. & Ottoni, E.B. (2005). Preliminary observations of tool use in captive hyacinth macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus). — Anim. Cogn. 8: 48-52.
-
Bottoni, L., Massa, R. & Lenti Boero, D. (2003). The grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) as a musician: an experiment with a temperate scale. — Ethol. Ecol. Evol. 15: 133-141.
-
Bradbury, J.W. & Balsby, T.J.S. (2016). The function of vocal learning in parrots. — Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 70: 293-312.
-
Casagrande, S., Garamszegi, L., Goymann, W., Donald, J., Francis, C., Fuxjager, M.J., Husak, J.F., Johnson, M.A., Kircher, B., Knapp, R., Martin, L.B., Miller, L.T., Schoenle, L.A., Vitousek, M.N., Williams, T.D. & Hau, M. (2018). Do seasonal glucocorticoid changes depend on reproductive investment? A comparative approach in birds. — Integr. Comp. Biol. 58: 739-750.
-
Cross, I. & Morley, I. (2008). The evolution of music: theories, definitions and the nature of evidence. — In: Comunicative musicality (Malloch, S. & Trevarten, C., eds). Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 61-82.
-
Dalziell, A.H., Peters, R.A., Cockburn, A., Dorland, A.D., Maisey, A.C. & Magrath, R. (2013). Dance choreography is coordinated with song repertoire in a complex avian display. — Curr. Biol. 23: 1132-1135.
-
Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex (Murray, J., ed.). — London, p. 566-573.
-
Gajdon, G.K., Amann, L. & Huber, L. (2011). Keas rely on social information in a tool use task but abandon it in favour of overt exploration. — Interact. Stud. 12: 304-323.
-
Gajdon, G.K., Lichtnegger, M. & Huber, L. (2014). What a parrot’s mind adds to play: the urge to produce novelty fosters tool use acquisition in kea. — O. J. Anim. Sci. 4: 51-58.
-
Greenberg, R. & Mettke-Hofmann, C. (2001). Ecological aspects of neophobia and neophilia in birds. — Curr. Ornithol. 16: 119-178.
-
Hardus, M.E., Lameira, A.R., Van Schaik, C.P. & Wich, S.A. (2009). Tool use in wild orang-utans modifies sound production: a functionally deceptive innovation? — Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 276: 3689-3694.
-
Heinsohn, R., Zdenek, C.N., Cunningham, R.B., Endler, J.A. & Langmore, N.E. (2017). Tool-assisted rhythmic drumming in palm cockatoos shares key elements of human instrumental music. — Sci. Adv. 3: e1602399.
-
Hunt, G.R. (1996). Manufacture and use of hook-tools by New Caledonian crows. — Nature 379: 249-251.
-
Kenward, B., Schloegl, C., Rutz, C., Weir, A.A.S., Burnyar, T. & Kacelnik, A. (2011). On the evolutionary and ontogenetic origins of tool-oriented behaviour in New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides). — Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 102: 870-877.
-
Langmore, N.E. (1998). Functions of duet and solo songs of female birds. — Trends Ecol. Evol. 13: 136-140.
-
Leitner, S., Voigt, C. & Gahr, M. (2001). Seasonal changes in the song pattern of the non-domesticated island canary (Serinus canaria), a field study. — Behaviour 138: 885-904.
-
Mangalam, M. & Fragaszy, D. (2018). Reply to ‘Tool use and dexterity: beyond the embodied theory’. — Anim. Behav. 139: e5-e8.
-
McDermott, J. & Hauser, M.D. (2007). Nonhuman primates prefer slow tempos but dislike music overall. — Cognition 104: 654-668.
-
Miller, G.F. (2000). Evolution of human music through sexual selection. — In: The origins of music (Wallin, N.L., Merker, B. & Brown, S., eds). MIT Press, London, p. 329-360.
-
Mingle, M.E., Eppley, T.M., Campbell, M.W., Hall, K., Horner, V. & de Waal, F.B.M. (2014). Chimpanzees prefer African and Indian music over silence. — J. Exp. Psychol. Anim.-L. 40: 502-505.
-
Münte, T.F., Altenmüller, E. & Jäncke, L. (2002). The musician’s brain as a model of neuroplasticity. — Nature Rev. Neurosci. 3: 473-478.
-
O’Hara, M. & Auersperg, A.M.I. (2017). Object play in parrots and corvids. — Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 16: 119-125.
-
Ota, N., Gahr, M. & Soma, M. (2015). Tap dancing birds: the multimodal mutual courtship display of males and females in a socially monogamous songbird. — Sci. Rep. 5: 16614.
-
Papousek, H. (1996). Musicality in infancy research: biological and cultural origins of early musicality. — In: Musical beginnings (Deliège, I. & Sloboda, J.A., eds). Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 37-55.
-
Patel, A.D., Iversen, J.R., Bregman, M.R. & Schulz, I. (2009). Studying synchronization to a musical beat in nonhuman animals. — Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1169: 459-469.
-
Pellegrini, A.D., Dupuis, D. & Smith, P.K. (2007). Play in evolution and development. — Dev. Rev. 27: 261-276.
-
Pepperberg, I.M. & Shive, H. (2001). Simultaneous development of vocal and physical object combinations by a grey parrot (Psittaus erithacus): bottle caps, lids, and labels. — J. Comp. Psychol. 115: 376-384.
-
Prozesky-Schulze, L., Prozesky, O.P.M., Anderson, F. & van der Merwe, G.J.J. (1975). Use of a self-made sound baffle by a tree cricket. — Nature 255: 142-143.
-
R Core Team (2017). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. — Available online at https://www.R-project.org/.
-
Rat-Fischer, L. (2017). Developmental learning of tool use in human and animal babies: inherited, social and environmental influences. — Ann. Fond. Fyssen 30: 98-105.
-
Rat-Fischer, L., O’Regan, J.K. & Fagard, J. (2013). Handedness in infants’ tool use. — Dev. Psychobiol. 55: 860-868.
-
Rothenberg, D., Roeske, T.C., Voss, H.U., Naguib, M. & Tchernikovski, O. (2014). Investigation of musicality in birdsongs. — Hearing Res. 308: 71-83.
-
Searcy, W.A. & Andersson, M. (1986). Sexual selection and the evolution of song. — Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 17: 507-533.
-
Soma, M. & Mori, C. (2015). The songbird as a percussionist: syntactic rules for non-vocal sound and song production in Java sparrows. — PLoS ONE 10: e0124876.
-
St Amant, R. & Horton, T. (2008). Revisiting the definition of animal tool use. — Anim. Behav. 75: 1199-1208.
-
Stevens, V. (2014). To think without thinking the implications of combinatory play and the creative process for neuroaesthetics. — Am. J. Play 7: 99-119.
-
Sugimoto, T., Kobayashi, H., Nobuyoshi, N., Kiriyama, Y., Takeshita, H., Nakamura, T. & Hashiya, K. (2010). Preference for consonant music over dissonant music by an infant chimpanzee. — Primates 51: 7-12.
-
Suzuki, S., Kuroda, S. & Nishihara, T. (1995). Tool-set for termite-fishing by chimpanzees in the Ndoki Forest, Congo. — Behaviour 132: 219-235.
-
Tukey, J.W. (1949). Comparing individual means in the analysis of variance. — Biometrics 5: 99-114.
-
Vallet, E. & Kreutzer, M.L. (1995). Female canaries are sexually responsive to special song phrases. — Anim. Behav. 49: 1603-1610.
-
van Lawick-Goodall, J. & van Lawick, H. (1966). Use of tools by the Egyptian vulture, Neophron percnopterus. — Nature 212: 1468-1469.
-
van Leeuwen, E.J.C., Cronin, K.A. & Haun, D.B.M. (2017). Tool use for corpse cleaning in chimpanzees. — Sci. Rep. 7: 44091.
-
Watanabe, S., Suzuki, T. & Yamazaki, Y. (2009). Reinforcing property of music for non-human animals: analysis with pigeons. — Philosophy 121: 1-21.
-
Wimpenny, J.H., Weir, A.S. & Kacelnik, A. (2011). New Caledonian crows use tools for non-foraging activities. — Anim. Cogn. 14: 459-464.
-
Wood, G.A. (1984). Tool use by the palm cockatoo Probosciger aterrimus during display. — Corella 8: 94-95.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 752 | 111 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 155 | 10 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 132 | 14 | 0 |
Combinatory sound object play in cockatiels: a forerunner of music?
In: BehaviourSearch for other papers by Mathilde Le Covec in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Carla Aimé in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Dalila Bovet in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
An interest in producing sounds during play behaviour might be a forerunner for music. Thus, we explored object play behaviour involving sounds in cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus). We provided them with several objects producing sounds and recorded sound production, spontaneous warbles and drumming during breeding, pre- and post-breeding. Birds manipulated the objects in a playful way. They manipulated them less during breeding than during pre- and post-breeding, but the proportion of manipulations producing sounds were higher during post-breeding and breeding than during pre-breeding. Males manipulated the objects more frequently and produced more sounds than females. Youngsters manipulated the objects more than adults. One bird repeatedly put a bell on a xylophone; we discuss several possible explanations for the behaviour, including tool use. Only males warbled and drummed, and during breeding only. Our results suggest an enriching effect of the objects on the birds. Many aspects of musicality remain to be studied.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 752 | 111 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 155 | 10 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 132 | 14 | 0 |