He says further studies should investigate the vocal learning abilities of sea lions, which would confirm the hypothesis. Even so, he points out that “a very important difference” is that Ronan learned to keep a beat with training, which humans and parrots don’t need.

A new study of Ronan, a sea lion famous for her dancing skills, challenges the idea that only vocal learners can match a tempo

For years, scientists believed that rhythm was a skill exclusively reserved to humans, out of all mammals. But a rescue sea lion from California has proven otherwise, with her outstanding ability to synchronize her movements to a beat, with such precision that she's even outperformed humans in controlled tests.