Mixtape for my iguana, please
Did you ever wonder do animals like music? The answer is a bit more complex than simple yes or no. Good news is today, thanks to Spotify’s new playlist, you can play ethologist and check it yourself.
Announced today (15.01.2020), Pet Playlists is a new experience-feature in which you can generate an algorythm-based playlist both for you and your pet. It comes along with a cool infographic, stating that 8/10 people believe their animals like music.
The world is not perfect, so Spotify Creators had to limit the choice to four pets: Iguana, Hamster, Dog, Cat and Bird.
As a proud momma of three guinea pigs, I’m obviously offended. But I get the point and it’s a smart categorisation. As they explain themselves in their FAQ, “Unfortunately, it just isn’t possible to accommodate every animal out there. That said, try one of the current playlist options. You may find your rabbit really likes hamster music!” (again, mildly-offended). We will also find three other explanations in the file, with one stating “While music for pets isn’t an exact science, we consulted with experts in the pet industry for the best approximation for what might work best for our featured animals.” Well, Spotify, I’m unsure which experts you have consulted; but have a read about zoomusicology. (yes, science is amazing!)
Getting back to the experience, we choose one of the previously reminded species-representatives and authorize our profile. Then we answer a few questions about our animals character. I recommend playing with the sliders a bit to watch the cute animations play out the traits in a sim-like manner. Adorable. (But let me also point out here, that if your animal seems apathethic, it’s not adorable anymore and you should take the baby for a check-up.)
And there we go, a playlist. And I’m… How to grasp this? Puzzled? Perhaps it’s that I haven’t used a real picture of my animal and the algorythm couldn’t properly grasp it’s fuzziness… but not only the playlist starts with Bjork’s Human Behaviour but it also contains Closer by Nine Inch Nails and Gold Digger by Kanye West and… Is this what hamsters are like?
Let’s science the science here. I mentioned playing ethologist, didn’t I? Whether your “Pet Playlist” is a win or fail, here’s some interesting facts about musicality in animals.
1. Classical music can have a calming effect on animals
It’s actually being used in shelters during especially hard days. Studies, including Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs [Kogan, L. R., Schoenfeld-Tacher, R., & Simon, A. A. (2012)] suggest that playing classical music may decrease some stress-related behaviours in sheltered animals. This is something where animals are no different from humans, as we will find many similar studies on this case.
2. As opposed to heavy metal.
The same study revealed heavy metal music made dogs shake in stress more. Yeah, I was sorry to hear that too. No, it doesn’t mean that you’re torturing your dog with Rammstein. But maybe don’t blast it on full speakers if you’re leaving the kid home alone.
3. Animals have different ways of perceiving sound
Many animals have a different hearing range than humans, which means they can hear higher/lower frequencies too. The perception and function of “sound” will vary across species.
4. Scientists are better in creating playlists than Spotify.
At least for cats. A 2015 study by C.Snowdona, D.Teieb and M. Savage, states: Cats prefer species-appropriate music. Wait a minute, species-appropriate music? In this great research, the scientists postulate a theoretical framework that in order for music to be effective behaviour-wise, it needs to fit within the frequency range and tempos used in natural communication of these species. Using the framework, the researchers composed musical pieces that can be considered species-appropriate. If you’re interested in testing it out yourself, find some scientifically-backed music for your cat on: https://www.musicforcats.com/
5. Relaxing, soft music is commonly being used in industrial farming
Look, the way the cruel world works, is that if there’s any way to make a cow more efficient, they will use it. A study from 2001 conducted by researchers from University in Leicester shows, that dairy cows will produce more milk when listening to relaxing music and that the music tempo has potential to affect their productivity.
6. Skrillex can defend you from mosquitoes.
Now this is your cool fact to share during that summer barbeque. According to a study published in Acta Tropica (194/2019), Skrillex’s song “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” will reduce the host attack and mating success in Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito. I getcha mosquitoes. It’s not my favourite song either.
If you like this article, keep on googling and reading — there’s way more fascinating research on how animals react to music. Whether they can really form a genre preference, is yet unknown — but there is definitely something in it. Keep on singing to your pets and keep on loving them, but don’t forget they might be silently judging your recent replays.
— — — — — — — — — — —
find me on twitter: https://twitter.com/cuicatia
