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Gorillas have individual musical tastes

With the new study, three gorillas (named Koga, Sydney, and Lily) were played three different sounds. First up for the two females and one male was rainforest sounds (natural recordings of the sort sold in “new age” shops). Second was some Chopin (classical music). The final offering was some powerhouse from the band Muse (rock music).

So, what happened? The first observation was that the Western lowland gorillas responded to all three types of music. When listening to the rainforest sounds this led to a change in behavior from all three.

Second, in terms of the actual music, the gorilla named Koga oriented toward the speakers playing Muse 40 percent of the time. In contrast, Sydney only did 10 percent of the time. As for, Lily, the English rockers, who had a number one album with Drones, were not to her taste and she showed no orientation to the speakers at all. Several rounds of disc spinning took place over a one week period. Control sessions, where no sounds were played, were observed.

The study is published in Zoological Biology, in a paper titled “The effects of auditory enrichment on gorillas.” The researchers were from Department of Animal Behavior, Ecology and Conservation, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York.

The study was small and the musical selections narrow (although Chopin and Muse offer a fair diametrical opposition across the music spectrum.) Further studies will be run to see how other gorillas respond and whether differences are seen with music that is more similar in terms of its genre, such as two types of rock music. Perhaps Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz will be on the playlist?

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Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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