When a good song comes on, people can’t help but move with the music, nodding their heads or tapping their feet in time with the rhythm. It turns out rats can keep the beat too, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.⁠ ⁠ Researchers in Japan played Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K. 448) for 10 rats, and tiny wireless accelerometers affixed to the animals’ heads revealed that the rodents subtly nodded in sync with the musical beat.⁠ ⁠ The research undercuts a longstanding theory that the ability to sync body movements with musical rhythms is found only in humans and animals that can change the sounds they produce in response to experiences. These so-called vocal learners include some birds, bats, elephants, whales, dolphins and seals.⁠ ⁠ Previous research looked at rats’ ability to perceive and move in sync with musical rhythms. But those efforts involved analyzing video footage of the animals’ movements, which are “too small to be captured by visual inspection,” said Hirokazu Takahashi, an associate professor in the University of Tokyo mechanical-engineering department and a co-author of the new study.⁠ ⁠ The rats also heard songs by Lady Gaga, Queen, Michael Jackson and Maroon 5. But the study focused on data collected when the animals were exposed to the sonata, which, according to Dr. Takahashi, has been widely used in other studies on rodent cognition and behavior.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Video: ITO Et Al./Bio-Intelligent Systems Lab/The University of Tokyo