Reptile brains respond to music

[Catherine]

I couldn't get back to the original article. The link didn't work for me. So I have found another article about the same experiment.

https://asgardiaspacenews.com/crocodiles...-to-music/

Quote:The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, demonstrate that the crocodile’s brain responded to the music in a similar way to how birds’ brains respond. It’s quite interesting that they have similar responses seeing as birds make their own songs and crocodiles don’t.

This study marks the first time scientists have examined the brain of a cold-blooded animal like a reptile using an fMRI, according to Gizmodo. These findings suggest that responding to music, or at least complex sounds like birdsong or Bach, is deeply wired into the animal brain, spanning across mammalian, avian, and reptilian brains. Seeing as crocodiles have  hardly changed since the time of the dinosaurs, this study highlights the possibility that this trait has been in animal brains for hundreds of millions of years.

I think the key point is the fact that the crocodile brain responded in a way that is similar to birds. They are suggesting that response to music or at least response to complex sound could be a trait that has been around for a very long time.

Since the crocodile was sedated they were observing how the brain reacted. The crocodile was not consciously responding to the music.

This study is a starting point for a lot of further studies.  There are other species that have been around a long time unchanged. It would be interesting to see how their brains respond to music.
Until further study is done there wasn't enough information gained to make any big conclusions.
Really they are just suggesting that the trait of responding to music could have been around for hundreds of millions of years.

We have clearly evolved the trait to a high degree, but the roots of the trait may go back to a common ancestor in the distant past. It is too early to draw actual conclusions.

Quote:I think the only way to possibly get a dinosaur is by reverse engineering a chicken as no genetic material exists beyond what's retained in the descendants of dinosaurs (birds). They've already located the dormant gene for teeth in chickens as well as successfully activated the genes for dinosaur leg development. I would love the opportunity to photograph a dinosaur lol, they were likely highly ornate and colourful animals.

It wouldn't be easy and it might not really be a proper dinosaur, but still it would be interesting.