Snowball si era fatto conoscere nel 2007 grazie a un video pubblicato su YouTube in cui si potevano ammirare le sue abilità di ballerino con la musica dei Backstreet Boys in sottofondo. Oggi il cacatua dalla cresta gialla è tornato alla ribalta grazie ad un articolo pubblicato su Current Biology. (La ricerca completa su www.cell.com).
I pappagalli sono gli animali più abili nella danza, intesa come movimenti spontanei e coordinati del corpo in risposta ad uno stimolo musicale. Ricercatori di San Diego hanno voluto analizzare scrupolosamente il comportamento di Snowball per quantificarne le abilità: quattordici i diversi movimenti che il cacatua si è "inventato" (con il brano "Another one bites the dust" dei Queen in sottofondo; "solo" 8 con "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun").
E ora? I ricercatori vogliono proseguire lo studio verificando se la presenza davanti al pappagallo di un umano che balla ha qualche effetto sulle abilità dell'animale...
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