Animals Charmed by Music

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3483, 23 August 1937, Page 2

Animals Charmed by Music

The Spider and the Organist,

A great deal of nonsense has been written about charming wild creatures by music, but of late years some experiments have been made in zoological gardens which prove that some animals are susceptible to certain kinds of music.

In the case of snakes, pythons and boas paid no attention whatever to any sort of music, but cobras were at once attracted by the sound of a piccolo, and rose up, swaying their hooded heads.

A lady in the country was once playing the piano and singing in her draw-ing-room when a black snake came gliding in through the door opening on to the verandah, and placed itself in a coil close behind her chair, its head raised and swinging lightly. So long as she went on playing the snake did not attempt to move way. She declared that it seemed to be enjoying the music. She herself, however, was far from enjoying the situation, and was only too grateful when her husband came in and dispatched the poisonous reptile. A monitor lizard listened alertly to the sound of a violin. His forked tongue played around his lips. As the music became soft and slow the creature grew quite still, except for a gentle movement of its head. Bears seem to appreciate music, more particularly that of the violin played softly. Even the Polar bear listened intently, wdiile the grizzlies were quite pleased. They stood up, their paws grasping the bars of their cage, each with its head cocked sideways.

Violin music attracted both lions and tigers, so long as the instrument was played softly. But the moment a loud chord was sounded the lions grew excited, their tales waving angrily, while the tigers showed their teeth. Wolves paid little attention to soft music, but snarled at high-pitched notes, while the elephant appreciated the flute, but did not like the piccolo. It was found that, of all the animals that were at all affected by music, all seemed to like, the violin, the 'cello, and the flute, but not the piccolo. Even the ostriches were plainly offended by the shrill notes of the last instrument. The only ones of the more intelligent animals which w r ere quite unaffected by music of any sort were the seals. They paid no attention to any instrument.

One would imagine that spiders were not affected much by music, but they are extremely sensitive to it, -which has been proved by observation. For Instance, an organist in a church noticed that a spider would swing down a single thread and rest above the keyboard every time a tune was played, and directly the music ceased it -would disappear. Either very soft or loud music would bring it down.

During a concert at Leipzig the leader of the orchestra particularly noticed a spider which descended by the same means from a chandelier whilst a violin solo was being played, but directly the solo was finished it ran back quickly.