There was a story on my Facebook timeline from NPR about Shanthi, an Asian elephant, who enjoys making all kinds of sounds. The zookeepers say that if a lock makes a sound, she flips it over and over to hear it. She blows air over the holes that they drill in toys to make sounds. She flaps her ears against things to make noises. So they decided to put a harmonica up and see what happens. And, no surprise IMHO, she started blowing into the harmonica and making noises.
But is it just making noises? In the video below, if you don't want to listen to the zookeepers talk, skip ahead to about 1:48 and listen to the noises she makes. Just before this part, there are a few blank slides explaining how the video came about (they were giving another elephant a bath and heard Shanthi playing her harmonica so they rushed out to video tape it), and also states that Shanthi is given no clues whatsoever about when to exhale, inhale, or stop.
So what do you think? Is this the equivalent of animals enjoying their own type of music? Or is it more like a toddler on the kitchen floor with pots and pans, reveling in mommy's attention?