Turns out you can train a shark to like jazz.
Researchers at Australia's Macquarie University have shown that the animal has a more discerning taste in music than you'd anticipate.
SEE ALSO:MIT created this imposter robot fish to spy on sea creaturesThe study, published in Animal Cognition, shows that baby Port Jackson sharks can learn to associate music with food. If played jazz, the sharks would swim over to a feeding station to receive their delicious reward.
"Sound is really important for aquatic animals, it travels well under water and fish use it to find food, hiding places and even to communicate," Catarina Vila-Pouca, the study's lead author, said in a statement online.
Very little is known about the ability of elasmobranchs -- that's sharks, rays and skates -- and their ability to distinguish between sounds. Some anecdotal reports suggest that sharks are attracted to the sound of boat engines, associating it with food, much like Pavlov's Dog.
While five out of the eight sharks in the study were able to identify the sound of jazz, it's much more difficult trying to get them to discern between classical and jazz music.
The researchers used the two genres of music to tell the sharks to swim to opposite corners of the tank, but it merely just confused them.
"It was obvious that the sharks knew that they had to do something when the classical music was played, but they couldn’t figure out that they had to go to a different location," Culum Brown, an associate professor at the university, added.
"The task is harder than it sounds, because the sharks had to learn that different locations were associated with a particular genre of music, which was then paired with a food reward. Perhaps with more training they would have figured it out."
At the very least, the study helps to change the perception of the learning abilities of the humble shark.
TopicsAnimalsMusic
(责任编辑：時尚)
Samsung Galaxy Note7 teardown reveals the magic behind the phone's iris scanner
Lorde's mum embarrasses her by sharing old home singing videos
Caution advised for LGBTQ soccer fans attending Russia's World Cup
Bill Gates pledges $100 million to innovative Alzheimer's researchEarly AppleHiddleswift finally followed each other on Instagram after 3 excruciating days
On Aug. 13, 1961, Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall, perhaps the greatest symbol of the
...[详细]Android apps that sneak ads on your lockscreen banned from Play Store
One of the disadvantages of Android being an open operating system is that app developers can pretty
...[详细]Snapchat quietly released new filters based on objects you're snapping
Too lazy to be creative with Snapchat? Well, there's a new feature for you.Snap quietly launched new
...[详细]The cult hit 'Desert Bus' makes its triumphant return in virtual reality
Desert Bus VR takes all the thrill of an eight-hour bus trip with no breaks. It lets you experience
...[详细]Ivanka Trump's unpaid interns share cringeworthy financial advice
Ivanka Trump's interns have some questionable advice for students worried they can't afford an unpai
...[详细]No one could make sense of the optical illusion dog. Can you?
The eye can often be fooled by simple things like the manipulation of light, a change of angles, or
...[详细]Twitter to start monitoring users outside of Twitter, will ban people affiliated with hate groups
Twitter is cracking down on hate speech and not just by looking at its own site. In what amounts to
...[详细]4 ways to be there for someone who is grieving during the holidays
The holiday season is meant to be a period filled with joy. But for many people it's a sad reminder
...[详细]This company is hiring someone just to drink all day
For the non-Don Drapers among us, drinking at work is a far-off fantasy. But UK company ILoveGin wan
...[详细]HBO bigwig sues TV Academy for $1 milllion over red carpet drama
The latest HBO drama may not have dragons, but it sure has a big budget.Nancy Lesser, a high-ranking
...[详细]More than half of women in advertising have faced sexual harassment, report says
Here are the most popular Amazon Kindle books of all time
