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Sea Lion Ronan Outperforms Humans in Beat-Keeping Study

Ronan, a 15-year-old California sea lion at UC Santa Cruz, continues to keep a beat when bobbing to disco music as of 2025.
Researchers initially trained Ronan at age 3 to recognize rhythms, challenging the belief only vocal learners can move to a beat.
A new study published on May 1 in Scientific Reports confirmed Ronan's superior beat-keeping compared to 10 human participants at multiple tempos.
Peter Cook, who has studied Ronan’s rhythmic skills for over ten years, observed that she precisely matches the shifting beats by gently moving her head and has shown improvement as she has matured.
The findings suggest Ronan remains a standout animal capable of rhythmic movement without vocal learning, prompting plans to test other sea lions similarly.

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Spiegel

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Exceptional tact: Seelöwin Ronan turns the world of research upside down

Ronan became known because she danced to the Backstreet Boys: with her tact, the Seelöwin questions scientific assumptions about the abilities of animals. Now she competed against ten college students.

4 hours ago·Germany

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NDTV

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Ronan The Sea Lion Demonstrates Superior Rhythm Skills Over Humans

A California sea lion named Ronan has shown remarkable ability to keep a beat and adapt to new rhythms, surpassing other animals and even some humans in her musical talent.

7 hours ago·New Delhi, India

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Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer

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Ronan the sea lion helps prove rhythm theories wrong

Researchers say Ronan the sea lion can still keep a beat after all these years. Ronan burst to fame about a decade ago after scientists reported her musical skills. At age 15, she's still got it. And researchers say she…

10 hours ago

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読売新聞オンライン

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Scientists Once Thought Only Humans Could Bob to Music. Ronan the Sea Lion Helped Prove Them Wrong

Ronan the sea lion can still keep a beat after all these years.

12 hours ago·Japan

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PBS NewsHour

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Ronan the sea lion is better than ever at grooving to a beat, new study finds

Not many animals show a clear ability to identify and move to a beat aside from humans, parrots and some primates. But then there’s Ronan, a bright-eyed sea lion that has scientists rethinking the meaning of music.

16 hours ago·Washington, United States

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