Top 10 Animals with the Best Musicality

A list about animals that can sing or at least respond adequately to music (to rhythm and melody), including dancing and headbanging. Most animals cannot respond to rhythm but some can keep a beat. The most prominent group of singers is that of the songbirds but this list isn't limited to them.

There are two types of animals on this list:
- animals with natural musicality
- animals trained to respond to music
The Top Ten
1 Nightingale
2 Song Thrush

Although its name explains itself, I have to add that it's an amazing singer because:

1. It can sing two different notes at once.
2. It can also sing rising and falling notes simultaneously.
3. Its song ends with one of the most complex sounds a bird can create.

3 Humpback Whale The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 m and weigh about 36,000 kg.

The male produces complex songs with structures that are strikingly similar to our own, consisting of looping sequences of "melodies" and repeating "end phrases" akin to the rhymes in song lyrics.

4 Canary
5 Sea Lion Sea lions are sea mammals characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short, thick hair, and a big chest and belly.

They respond to rhythm. A California female sea lion, Ronan, was trained to match her head movements to complex rhythms of music. Headbanging, baby. Her favorite song is Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind, and Fire.

YT video: Beat Keeping in a California Sea Lion (Ronan)

6 Cockatoo
7 Northern Cardinal

They can switch sides of their syrinx so they sweep through more notes than are on a piano keyboard in just a second.

8 Starling

Mozart kept a starling as a pet and, according to his journals, he even taught the bird to sing the opening theme of one of his piano concertos. Also, Mozart transcribed a tune from one of his starling's songs. So, the notes of his starling's song are available.

9 Veery

Oh, I've heard and seen them before. Their song is very pretty for such a plain-looking bird.

It creates impressive flute-like vocal effects by pitch sweeps and mini-trills.

10 Lyrebird

The lyrebird is the songbird with the most complex syrinx. It sings its own song elements, perfectly sings the songs of other birds, imitates the sounds of mammals, and even artificial sounds. Extraordinary.

The Contenders
11 Human Humans (Homo sapiens) are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and large, complex brains. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, and language. Humans are highly social and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating... read more

Humans are technically animals, but not all of them have the ability to sing well, I think. They're also not exactly wild animals, as you can read in the bio.

12 Bonobo
13 Indigo Bunting

They are singers. What's interesting about them is that they sing in regional dialects. Their songs have significant regional variations.

14 Warbler

It really looks like it can sing in the picture.

15 Brown Thrasher

A singer known for the large repertoire - over 1,000 song types.

16 Coqui
17 Cockatiel
18 Goat The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the animal family Bovidae and the tribe Caprini, meaning it is closely related... read more
19 Cuckoo
20 Penguin Penguins (order Sphenisciforme, family Spheniscid) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white... read more
21 Catbird
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