![]() ![]() You can check out their results - and buy tracks, here. Interestingly, younger and older cats were the most responsive, with middle-aged cats the most indifferent. Cats were observed to demonstrate what the paper calls “a significant preference” for cat music over human music, including approaching humans, rubbing against their legs, and other friendly behaviours. The researchers composed a few pieces of music that mimicked the vocalizations and natural rhythms of domestic cats, and their results seem to indicate that the experiment worked. So, the researchers set out to create music composed specifically for cats. Some animals simply don’t seem to respond to human music at all. Studies of music and its effects on animals have been conflicting, and sometimes widely so. In a study published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior in 2015, a team of researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, and the School of Music at the University of Maryland wanted to test a theory about species-appropriate music. While our beloved pooches seem to enjoy Beethoven as much as we do, it will surprise no one that cats seem to prefer a special music all their own. That research paperbacks up other studies done at Queen’s University in Belfast. Heavy metal, in contrast, made them agitated, and seemed to actually provoke nervous body shaking. As the paper, published in The Journal of Veterinary Behavior in 2012, noted, dogs slept more to any kind of classical music, and seemed more relaxed when it was played. The researchers played two different types of classical music, and heavy metal. They studied behavioural clues like their activity levels, barking and other vocalizations, and nervous body shaking. Researchers at the Colorado State University looked at the way kennel dogs reacted to various types of music. Beyond the novelty of why goldfish and elephants would be more responsive than monkeys, the research points at the ancient origins of music as an essential component of human behaviour and psychology. Fundamentally, the answer to whether animals like our music seems to be: it depends on the species. The body of scientific research on animals and music is relatively small, but there are several studies that have been published over the last two decades or so. But, are those animals really reacting to the music, or are they reacting more to the people who are playing it? Is it all just wishful thinking on our part? We’ve taken a look into the science behind animals and music - to see what’s behind the social media hype. We’ve all seen the videos of dogs playing piano and elephants dancing to violin music. Doggos dig Mozart, goldfish can distinguish between Stravinsky and Bach, and elephants are better at staying in time than we are, as it turns out. ![]()
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