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Monkeys Only Like Monkey Music—and Metallica

Heavy metal had calming effect on monkeys who ignored classic rock and jazz

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 2, 2009 8:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – Monkeys subjected to a range of human music ignored Bach, Nine Inch Nails, and jazz, but found Metallica soothing, the Daily Telegraph reports. The experiment on a group of cottontop tamarins, carried out by a psychologist and a cellist, found that while the monkeys showed no response to human music, Metallica's “Of Wolf and Man” excepted, they had strong emotional reactions to compositions based on the calls of their own species.

"The most interesting thing that has come out of this study is some suggestions for animal care,” one expert told Wired. “It’s very common for people to play music for animals that are in captivity, because they figure that they’ll be interested in it or enjoy it." That may not be the case. They plan to test their theory on other animals.

[Images (2)]

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The music of Metallica had a strangely soothing effect on a group of tamarind cottontops. (Shutter Stock)

The monkeys "only response to several samples of human music was a calming response to the heavy-metal band Metallica," one researcher said. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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Metallica calms monkeys. (msnbc)

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Monkeys Only Like Monkey Music—and Metallica