Study: Birds have musical preferences

• Tweet

LONDON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- British scientists say parrots, which are known as great mimics, actually have their own musical tastes and even like to sing -along to some tunes.

Researchers at the University of Lincoln studied the listening preferences of a pair of African grey parrots, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Dr. Franck Peron, from the study, said: "The birds clearly showed preferences. One preferred the rhythmic and one preferred the classical. There is no trend for the birds. Even if they are in the same place hearing the same things, they do not prefer the same music."

Researchers found that the birds preferred soothing "middle of the road" music and disliked electronic dance music.

"The electronic dance music was not appropriate for them. We had the radio on in the office and when it was a very fast beat, they started to scream; not in a friendly, communicative way but in a distressed, scared way. They seem to like pop music when there is a voice," Peron said.