Sunday Times 2
Chimpanzees go ape for Indian music
Chimpanzees like to listen to music – but have very specific tastes, researchers have found.
While preferring silence to music from the West, chimpanzees like to listen to the different rhythms of music from Africa and India, researchers found.
Chimpanzees like to listen to the different rhythms of music from Africa and India, researchers found (AFP)
The research is the first to discover primates have a preference for music, according to the American Psychological Association, which published the study.
The researchers admit they made the discovery by mistake, said study co-author Frans de Waal, PhD, of Emory University.
‘Our objective was not to find a preference for different cultures’ music,’ she said.
‘We used cultural music from Africa, India and Japan to pinpoint specific acoustic properties.
‘Past research has focused only on Western music and has not addressed the very different acoustic features of non-Western music.
While nonhuman primates have previously indicated a preference among music choices, they have consistently chosen silence over the types of music previously tested.
‘Chimpanzees may perceive the strong, predictable rhythmic patterns as threatening, as chimpanzee dominance displays commonly incorporate repeated rhythmic sounds such as stomping, clapping and banging objects,’ said de Waal.
‘Chimpanzees displaying a preference for music over silence is compelling evidence that our shared evolutionary histories may include favoring sounds outside of both humans’ and chimpanzees’ immediate survival cues,’ said lead author Morgan Mingle, BA, of Emory and Southwestern University in Austin.
© Daily Mail, London