If you play your cards right as a scientist, you can spend all day watching cockatoos dance online and IRL. That\u2019s what one team of researchers figured out, according to a new study that identified 17 cockatoo dance moves previously unknown to science.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnecdotally, parrots (Psittaciformes) have been reported to show \u2018dancing\u2019 behaviour to music in captivity which has been supported by studies on a few individuals,\u201d said researchers led by Natasha Lubke of Charles Sturt University. \u201cHowever, to date it remains unclear why parrots show dance behavior in response to music in captivity when birds are not courting or in the absence of any potential sexual partner.\u201d Cockatoos, by the way, are a type of parrot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth pursuing this mystery in part because parrots are popular pets and zoo attractions that require environmental enrichment for their welfare while in captivity. Listening to music and dancing could provide much-needed stimulation for these smart, social animals.<\/p>\n
To that end, the authors watched dozens of videos of cockatoos on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, with search terms like \u201cbirds dancing Elvis,\u201d \u201cbird dancing to rap music\u201d and \u201cbird dancing to rock music.\u201d They also played music and podcasts to a group of captive birds\u2014two sulphur crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita), two Major Mitchell cockatoos (Lophochroa leadbeateri) and two galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla)\u2014housed at Wagga Wagga Zoo in Australia.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AD_4nXdrRDdlAilPtnI09YqoKn7zkmYi3EJK3b6iJztW7ZLzT8pGi9lOtAShXrIdX3BErbBFNm3yYKNKMGSe7tijE4sYSVjOPF6W.png\")
Illustration of the 10 most common recorded dance movements. Ethogram descriptors based on Keehn et al. [3] and illustrations by Zenna Lugosi. Image: Lubke et al., 2025, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/)<\/p>\n
The results expanded the existing database of cockatoo dance moves from classics like headbang, foot-lift, and body roll to include new-wave choreography like jump turn, downward walk, and fluff (wherein \u201cfeathers are fluffed\u201d in a \u201cfluffing event\u201d according to the study).\u00a0<\/p>\n
All the birds that the team studied onsite at the zoo also danced at least once to audio playback of the song \u201cThe Nights\u201d by Avicii. They even danced when music was not playing, bopping around to silence or to\u00a0 tips from the financial podcast \u201cShe\u2019s on the Money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDance behaviour is perhaps a more common behaviour in cockatoos than previously thought,\u201d the team concluded. \u201cFurther research is required to determine the motivational basis for this behaviour in captivity.\u201d<\/p>\n
It will be interesting to see what forthcoming studies reveal, but my own prediction is that the motivational basis falls under Lady Gaga\u2019s edict to \u201cJust Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other news\u2026<\/p>\n
Solving the mystery of what\u2019s killing billions of sea stars<\/p>\n
Prentice, Melanie et al. \u201cVibrio pectenicida strain FHCF-3 is a causative agent of sea star wasting disease.\u201d Nature Ecology and Evolution.<\/a><\/p>\n Over the past decade, a devastating illness has killed off billions of sea stars in what is the largest marine epidemic on record. Scientists have finally identified the culprit that causes sea star wasting disease (SSWD) as the bacteria Vibrio pectenicida, which is from the same family that causes cholera in humans (Vibrio cholerae).<\/p>\n Sea stars infected with SSWD form lesions and rapidly disintegrate into goo in mass mortality events that have upended ecosystems on the Pacific coast from Alaska to Mexico. The isolation of the agent involved in these grotesque die-offs will hopefully help restore these vital keystone species.<\/p>\n \u201cThis discovery will enable recovery efforts for sea stars and the ecosystems affected by their decline,\u201d said researchers led by Melanie Prentice of the Hakai Institute and the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n Psst\u2026you have some ancient atmosphere stuck in your teeth<\/p>\n Feng, Dingsu et al. \u201cMesozoic atmospheric CO2 concentrations reconstructed from dinosaur tooth enamel.\u201d Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<\/a><\/p>\n For the first time, scientists have reconstructed atmospheres that existed more than 100 million years ago by studying the teeth of dinosaurs that breathed in this bygone air.<\/p>\n A team analyzed oxygen remnants preserved in the dental enamel of roughly two dozen dinosaur teeth including sauropods (such as Camarasaurus), theropods (including Tyrannosaurus), and the ornithischian Edmontosaurus (go Oilers). This data enabled them to infer carbon dioxide concentrations of around 1,200 parts per million (ppm) and 750 ppm in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is in line with other findings that have found wild swings in CO2 levels during the dinosaur age, likely due to volcanic activity. Earth\u2019s current atmosphere is about 430 ppm, and is rapidly<\/a> rising due to human-driven greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFossil tooth enamel can thus serve as a robust time capsule for ancient air [oxygen] isotope compositions,\u201d said researchers led by Dingsu Feng of the University of G\u00f6ttingen. \u201cThis novel form of analysis can \u201cprovide insights into past atmospheric greenhouse gas content and global primary productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n Vortex planets from the dawn of light<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AD_4nXdXfUcNz6u7f2y9vAJqpUW16l9oLz_XvdKsDAuQpc76jLjmineZQ3iI-GV6VW78I1fxzvRGZ-sDz2fMZ5bYMRZ_9TWzfCzl.jpeg\")
Hakai Institute research scientist Alyssa Gehman checks on an adult sunflower sea star in the US Geological Survey\u2019s Marrowstone Marine Field Station in Washington State. Image: Kristina Blanchflower\/Hakai Institute<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AD_4nXfZBwtL3__9vwFZXcScCJkwKtazGgbVVD3e9Mfe8MAOjatw37m8BdvvwaVUmTJwX9pjqvgPFhDbK62ocrnngzC29vRfo4m5.jpeg\")
Skull with teeth of a Kaatedocus siberi found at Howe Ranch, Wyoming, USA. Image: \u00a9 Sauriermuseum Aathal<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AD_4nXeHWaD8FhR_9emsh1ej-iR6FuundbsaAAj0b3kysno1R_wNTWU7xNeCGZ9jtW8XQBkXwVbqDwqpbw9fgkY31ZpvgCXEUmEx.jpeg\")
Biologists found that pregnant cockroaches need more sleep and those that are sleep-deprived have babies that require longer gestation to develop. Image: Andrew Higley<\/p>\n