Scientists have made a breakthrough which suggests humans' sense of rhythm could date back to our monkey ancestors, after they did a test which saw a group of macaques tap out a beat to Backstreet Boys An experiment using macaque monkeys may have solved where our sense of rhythm comes from (Image: Getty Images/Westend61)

Boffins have discovered our sense of rhythm may date back to our primate ancestors. They studied macaques and found they can be trained to develop a consistent ability to groove to a beat.

Researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico initially trained the monkeys to synchronise tapping to the beat of a metronome.

Later they were played songs including Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) by Backstreet Boys, A New England by Billy Bragg and You’re the

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