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Featured era: 2007
Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo
“Head bobbing, foot lifting, right on the beat.”
- Featured era
- 2007
- Peak era
- 2007-2009
- Company
- Irena Schulz / Bird Lovers Only
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
"Snowball - Our Dancing Cockatoo"
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- BirdLoversOnly
- Added:
- October 15, 2007
- Length:
- 4:28
What Was It?
Snowball is a male Eleonora cockatoo who dances. In 2007 his owner surrendered him to the Bird Lovers Only rescue centre, leaving a Backstreet Boys CD and the news that Snowball loved to dance. Irena Schulz, who ran the centre, filmed him swaying and bobbing his head to his favourite song, "Everybody", and the clip became an early YouTube sensation, featured on Inside Edition.
Scientists took it seriously. Neuroscientist Aniruddh Patel said his "jaw hit the floor" when he saw it. His experiments in 2008 showed that Snowball really was moving to the beat and could adjust to different tempos, something previously thought to happen only in humans.
In 2019 a follow-up study counted 14 different dance moves, some apparently improvised.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Head bobs in time with the Backstreet Boys
- Lifting one foot, then the other
- A Taco Bell advert set to "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"
- Scientists checking whether a bird could really dance
The Story
- 2007 Snowball arrived at Bird Lovers Only, and his dancing video went online.
- 2008 Aniruddh Patel's team tested whether Snowball truly danced to the beat.
- 2009 Snowball danced in a Taco Bell advert.
- 2019 A new study described 14 different dance moves.
Its Legacy
The original video is still on the shelter's channel. Snowball holds the Guinness World Record for most dance moves by a bird, and his case still comes up in research on why we dance.
Memories
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