( CNN ) -- A head-banging parrot who became a YouTube sensation has demonstrated that an ability to appreciate music and keep a rhythm is not unique to humans , scientists say . Alex , an African grey parrot , was one of 14 birds which displayed an ability to keep time with a tune . Snowball the cockatoo , who appears to bop his head , tap his claws and squawk enthusiastically to the Back Street Boys ' `` Everybody '' is one of several birds apparently capable of dancing to a beat , according to two studies published in the latest edition of the journal Current Biology . In a study lead by Adena Schachner of Harvard University , researchers examined more than 1,000 YouTube videos of dancing animals and found 14 types of parrot species and one elephant genuinely capable of keeping time . The video of Snowball has been viewed more than two million times since it was posted in 2007 . Another video of Snowball shows him dancing to Queen 's `` Another One Bites the Dust . '' Watch Snowball the dancing parrot » . Schachner analyzed the videos frame-by-frame , comparing the animals ' movements with the speed of the music and the alignment of individual beats . The group also studied another bird , Alex , an African grey parrot , which had exhibited similar abilities to Snowball , nodding its head appreciatively to a series of drum tracks . `` Our analyses showed that these birds ' movements were more lined up with the musical beat than we 'd expect by chance , '' says Schachner . `` We found strong evidence that they were synchronizing with the beat , something that has not been seen before in other species . '' Aniruddh Patel of The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego , who led another study of Snowball 's performance , said that the bird had demonstrated an ability to adjust the tempo of his dancing to stay synchronized to the beat . Scientists had previously thought that `` moving to a musical beat might be a uniquely human ability because animals are not commonly seen moving rhythmically in the wild , '' Patel said . Schachner said there was no evidence to suggest that animals such as apes , dogs or cats could recognize music , despite their extensive experience of humans . That leads researchers to believe that an ability to process musical sounds may be linked to an ability to mimic sounds -- something that each of the parrots studied by researchers was able to do excellently , she said . Other `` vocal-learning species '' include dolphins , elephants , seals and walruses . `` A natural question about these results is whether they generalize to other parrots , or more broadly , to other vocal-learning species , '' Schachner said . Researchers believe a possible link between vocal mimicry and an ability to hear music may explain the development of music in human societies . `` The question of why music is found in every known human culture is a longstanding puzzle . Many argue that it is an adaptive behaviour that helped our species to evolve . But equally plausible is the possibility that it emerged as a by-product of other abilities -- such as vocal learning , '' music psychologist Lauren Stewart of Goldsmiths , University of London told CNN . `` Parrots and humans both have the ability to imitate sounds that they hear , unlike our closer simian relatives . Once a species has the neural machinery in place for coupling the perception and production of vocal sounds , it may be only a small step to use the same circuits for synchronizing movements to a beat . ''
Scientists : Dancing parrots prove ability to recognize music not unique to humans . Score: 6 Ability to keep time apparently linked to vocal mimicry , scientists believe . Other animals capable of mimicry include dolphins , elephants , seals , walruses .