SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Bumblebees are incredibly smart. I mean, I'm sure they could do my job. Even though their brains are just the size of a sesame seed, bumblebees can do math, play soccer and recognize faces. Now scientists have discovered they can also catch a beat. A study in science used blinking lights to test whether bumblebees could recognize a rhythmic pattern. Turns out they can. Recognizing a beat is a skill linked to language learning, previously observed only in humans, some birds and a few other animals. For example, a sea lion, Ronan, who was studied by the University of California in Santa Cruz. She was the first non-human mammal shown to keep a beat, even outperforming some Santa Cruz undergrads.
(SOUNDBITE OF EARTH, WIND & FIRE SONG, "BOOGIE WONDERLAND")
SIMON: That's Ronan bobbing her head to Earth, Wind & Fire. Watch out for the splashing. One of Ronan's keepers at the time mused that maybe rhythmic ability is even more widespread among animals than previously thought. The bumblebees may have proved him right, or should we call them boogiebees?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOOGIE WONDERLAND")
EARTH, WIND AND FIRE: (Singing) Dance. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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