SPOTIFY has made playlists for pets to listen to in their owners’ absence to alleviate stress while home alone, but are they barking mad for doing so?
Playlists for pets?
The music streaming giant - which has 248 million users globally - conducted a study on how pet owners use music, with the results inspiring them to make playlists after 71% said they played music for their animals.
But that’s not all?
The survey of 5,000 music-streaming pet owners from the UK, the US, Spain, Italy and Australia, found that 8 in 10 people believe their pets like music, and around 46% of people feel that music is a stress reliever for animals. Also, 69% said they sing to their furry friends and 57% said they dance with them.
Now?
Spotify, founded in Sweden in 2006, say they have “created a unique experience to help you craft the pawfect algorithmically generated playlist for you and your pet to enjoy together”.
It’s not just dogs?
It’s also for cats, iguanas, hamsters and birds.
After you say which pet you are compiling the modern mix-tape for, you also have to say what their personality trait is - relaxed or energetic, shy or friendly - to help Spotify "pick the playlist vibe”.
There is science behind this?
An array of surveys have been conducted to explore the impact of music on animals. A 2012 study in The Journal of Veterinary Behaviour saw researchers from Colorado State University monitor the behaviour of 117 dogs in kennels, playing a variety of music genres. They found that the dogs slept most while listening to classical music, but heavy metal made them shake, suggesting anxiety.
Cats don’t care?
A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US found that while cats were indifferent to human music, when they were played music composed specially for them - with tempos and pitches similar to those used by cats to communicate with each other - the response was positive. The research, published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science journal in 2015, showed that cats were more likely to move toward the speaker or rub against it.
Bridge Over Troubled Water?
The Simon & Garfunkel classic, R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, were the top tracks when played to 1000-strong herds of Friesian dairy cows in a project in the early 2000s. University of Leicester researchers found that the three musical offerings resulted in the cows producing 3% more milk per day.
Crocodile rock?
German researchers used scans to monitor the impact of sounds on crocodile brains in a 2018 study, learning that additional brain areas were triggered by classical music, in comparison to simple sounds.
The power of music could be harnessed?
A 2019 study by Malaysian researchers learned that the yellow fever mosquito - known to carry a multitude of diseases - was less likely to eat or reproduce when played electronic music, with the noise making it harder for them to receive signals from hosts, suggesting disease control potential.
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