[3] Shelter owner Irena Schulz was informed of the cockatoo's unusual ability and, after confirming this behavior at first hand, uploaded a video of Snowball's dancing, swaying, and head bobbing to her website.
In an interview with The New York Times, Dr. Patel stated that his "jaw hit the floor" upon seeing the video, comparing the unlikely and contrary-to-accepted-wisdom nature of a cockatoo dancing to human music to that of a "dog reading a newspaper out loud".
[7] Between January and May 2008, Patel led research to determine whether or not Snowball was in fact truly synchronizing his body movements to the music (as opposed to simply mimicking or responding to visual clues from humans present in the room at the same time).
[8] This ability is believed to be unrelated to the male Eleonora cockatoo's natural courtship display, which is described as "simple and brief" and involves strutting towards the female with crest raised, whilst bobbing and swishing his head in a figure-eight movement and "uttering soft, chattering notes all the while".
[11] Patel has suggested that the capability of both humans and cockatoos to move synchronously to a rhythmic beat may be a "byproduct of a link between the auditory and motor parts of the brain" as a result of both species' ability to learn and mimic sounds.