Dolphins sing 'Batman' theme

[Dave Monroe]

Dolphins sing 'Batman' theme
Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Monday, 3 October 2005 
 

Scientists have taught dolphins to combine both rhythm
and vocalisations to produce music, resulting in an
extremely high-pitched, short version of the Batman
theme song. 

The findings, outlined in two studies, are the first
time that nonhuman mammals have demonstrated they can
recognise rhythms and reproduce them vocally. 

"Humans are sensitive to rhythms embedded in sequences
of sounds, but we typically consider this skill to be
part of processing for language and music, cognitive
domains that we consider to be uniquely human," says
Professor Heidi Harley, lead author of both studies.

"Clearly, aspects of those domains are available to
other species."

The studies will be presented at the joint meeting of
the Acoustical Society of America and NOISE-CON 2005,
which runs from 17 to 21 October in Minneapolis.

Learning to sing

Harley, who is associate professor of social sciences
at the New College of Florida in Sarasota, says that
both studies tested dolphins at Disney's Epcot Center
in Florida.

The researchers first had an adult male bottlenose
dolphin position itself in front of an underwater
sound projector, called a hydrophone, that produced
six different 14 kiloherz, 4 second rhythms.

The dolphin was rewarded for performing a certain
behaviour to each rhythm. For example, when rhythm 1
played, it waved its pectoral fin and when rhythm 2
played, it tossed a ball.

The various rhythms were played at different
frequencies and tempos to ensure the dolphin was
recognising rhythms instead of just frequencies or
sound durations. 

Another adult male was trained to produce similar
rhythms using a pneumatic switch, essentially a small,
air-filled ball connected to a computer that then
generated sounds whenever the dolphin pressed the
switch.

"The dolphin was reinforced for producing a specific
rhythm to a specific object," says Harley.

"For example, when we presented him with a Batman
doll, he received a fish for producing a specific
rhythm, in this case, a short sound and then a long
one." 

"If you recall the original Batman TV series musical
intro you'll probably remember the way they sang
'Bat-maaaaaaaan'," she adds.

The dolphin spontaneously vocalised to the rhythms, so
the researchers started to reward the male with fish
whenever it matched its 'singing' to the rhythms. 

By the end of the studies, the scientists could show
an object, such as the Batman doll, which represented
a certain rhythm-vocalisation combo to the dolphin,
and it would create the correct sounds both vocally
and using the switch. 

Batmaaaaaaan

Gordon Bauer, associate professor of psychology at the
New College of Florida who did not work on the
studies, says, "This is the first report, to my
knowledge, of a nonhuman mammal's ability to
discriminate rhythmic patterns." 

But Bauer doubts that dolphins realise they are
producing what people consider 'music'. 

"I think music is a human construct," he says. "I
doubt that it has pertinence to animals, although the
elements of music, such as pitch, time, timbre,
rhythm, etc, may be incorporated into animal
communication." 

Harley agrees, and hopes the everyday vocalisations of
dolphins will be analysed in terms of their rhythmic
content.

In the near future, she and her team are planning to
test the dolphins on their ability to recognise
recordings of their own rhythms by having them
associate their own sound creations with identifying
objects similar to the Batman doll.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1473208.htm

"Catching a TWA flight to Miami was an uncoordinated
boy who planned to slip at night into aquariums and
open negotiations with the dolphins, who would succeed
man. He was kissing his mother passionately goodbye,
using his tongue. 'I'll write, ma,' he kept saying.
'Write by WASTE,' she said, 'remember. The government
will open it if you use the other. The dolphins will
be mad.' 'I love you, ma,' he said. 'Love the
dolphins,' she advised him. "Write by WASTE.' So it
went. Oedipa played the voyeur and listener."

http://www.innternet.de/~peter.patti/thomaspynchon-thecryingoflot49.htm


		
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