MUSIC MADE FOR MONKEYS

Cotton-top tamarin monkeys grew calmer after they heard music based on their own calm, friendly calls. But the monkeys became more agitated when researchers played music that contained elements of their own threatening or fearful calls. Listen to arousing monkey music and calming music (Copyright David Teie).

Music may have charms to "soothe the savage breast," but that doesn't mean the same music that soothes humans will charm other species. Monkeys, for example, aren't much affected by human music.

To find out whether any kind of music could affect a monkey's mood, a musician and a primatologist created tunes tailor-made for cotton-top tamarins. They report that the experiment worked - but the melodies are unlike anything you've ever heard.

The music that mellows out a monkey consists of long, high-pitched tones that sound squeaky to human ears. "To me, that sounds like fingers scratching on a blackboard," said Charles Snowdon, a primate researcher from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

At the other extreme, the monkeys' equivalent of a thriller-movie soundtrack sounds like a fast-stuttering engine, overlaid with string-quartet screeches. "I can't even imagine dancing to it," Snowdon said.

But based on the reviews reported in this week's issue of the journalBiology Letters, the tamarin tunes were a certifiable hit. link..