Posts: 5,150
Threads: 419
Joined: Nov 2013
Reputation:
33
Well....I am not at all surprised!
Most animals love music. They do seem to prefer classical, especially light and gentle classical. I don't see why reptiles should be any exception.
They are interesting findings. Bit by bit we are starting to learn about animals. I think our Souls already know that -it's just that human brains have to catch up with the knowledge!
Posts: 17,193
Threads: 5,949
Joined: Jan 1970
Reputation:
78
For an MRI it is essential that you not move if they are going to get an image.
Some snakes don't move much anyhow so it might work. However in a strange place a snake would be restless. I would put the snake in a small container where it would curl up quietly. It might work.
Sedation would be dangerous. Snakes would not respond well to sedation.
I don't know about hypnotizing a snake. They tend to see a heat signature rather than detail. They hear through vibrations and have no external ears. I am not sure you could get a snake's attention long enough to hypnotize it. If you did have its full attention it might think food and strike.
I do think they like mellow sounds rather than jarring sounds. Classical music should appeal to them. Maybe they would like jazz. I should do some music experiments. I could pick the same time on the same day and try different types of music.
I am pretty sure they all like Pachelbel.
Catherine
Posts: 34
Threads: 7
Joined: Jun 2018
Reputation:
1
06-24-2018, 10:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-24-2018, 11:00 PM by Cat001.)
This is actually a really interesting topic. The question here is whether the crocodile is responding to classical music to how we understand it or is it responding to complex noise? We humans take music for granted but the ability to recognise beat and rhythm is actually rare in the animal kingdom, it is not inherent to all animals. The ability to understand music is linked to the development of speech. Animals that rely on complex vocal communication such as birds and whales seem to also have the ability to comprehend music. The difference between human and animal communication is that human language relies of lexicoding (combining words to create meaningful sentences) while whales and birds use phonocoding (sounds used in symbolic ways but are not themselves words – sentence structures are not formed). Elephants can also comprehend music but it is questioned whether our ape cousins can.
The study seems to conclude that reptiles respond to complex stimuli similar to that of birds and mammals, it does not conclude that reptiles possess the ability to detect any of the meaningful quality of music.
Additionally, the fact that crocodiles would respond similarly to birds is not completely surprising as crocodiles are the closest living relatives of birds (both being living examples of archosaurs). In fact, crocodiles are more closely related to birds than they are to other reptiles.
Posts: 17,193
Threads: 5,949
Joined: Jan 1970
Reputation:
78
I agree with you, snakes have excellent hearing. External ears are not needed for sound to be transmitted.
My snakes respond to my voice. If they know someone they will respond to that voice. If I have a stranger in the house they are less likely to respond.
Music is different. We recognize the patterns in it. For a reptile it would be different. I think my snakes are fine with the background sound of the radio and a human voice. I would want to play different types of music and see how they respond. Music wouldn't be the same for them as for me, but they might like certain types of sounds better than others. I don't think they would like jarring sounds. Probably very loud music would not be to their liking.
You are right about the heat sensing. I was generalizing. The rat snakes see very well, but it is different from our type of vision.
They can dislike something I have added to a tank as decoration and I will have to remove it. They are very fussy about their environment. I find the ball pythons respond to heat sources. I have to warm their food if I want them to find it. Corn snakes not only see the food they are a good judge of size. They don't eat something too big for them.
It makes sense that a brain similar to a birds would respond to music. Music is important to birds. They use song for communication. I don't know if we have a way of gauging the emotional response of a crocodile to music. It certainly wouldn't be the response that we have. It is an area that needs more study.
Catherine