CROCODILES who were played classical music processed the tunes in the same way as humans do, according to a study.
An international team of researchers monitored five crocodiles while exposing them to a slew of complex sounds, and gained a deep insight into the brain of the reptiles using functional MRI (fMRI).
It was the first time fMRI – routinely used in clinical diagnostics and research – was used to study the brain of a reptile.
Researchers exposed the Nile crocodiles to visual and auditory stimuli, including classical music such as Bach, and triggered activation patterns in their brains that were similar to those in birds and mammals. Additional brain areas were activated during exposure to complex stimuli such as classical music.
The study involved researchers from Iran, South Africa, France and Germany and was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
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