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A hamster eating a piece of fruit in grass.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Bizarre, Calming Effects of Listening to Animals Eat

Kathryn O’Shea-Evans

March 20, 2021
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“Studies have shown that listening to the sound of beavers enthusiastically munching on white cabbage can temporarily reduce stress levels by up to 17%,” @DickKingSmith tweeted last fall. (The account is maintained by the family of the late children’s book author, who wrote the story that inspired the critter-filled farmyard movie Babe). The post, accompanied by a video of a rodent enjoying a cabbage buffet, went viral and was clearly untrue—but nodded toward the bizarre calming effect some people experience while listening to the sounds of animals ingesting food.

A slew of popular A.S.M.R. videos attest to the phenomenon. You can indulge in the spine-tingling noshing noises of a parrot, or the satisfying crunches of a prairie dog chowing down bok choy. Japan’s Nagasaki Bio Park regularly churns out audible footage of its animals at feeding time, including a watermelon-chomping hippo, an apple-munching tapir, and a herd of capybaras devouring a giant pumpkin. The Animal A.S.M.R. YouTube channel takes a more formal approach, placing hungry creatures such as snails, guinea pigs, and tortoises on a makeshift soundstage to capture them eating fruits and vegetables next to a pair of microphones. Even if you’re not affected by the sounds of animals snacking, there’s an unmistakable sensorial satisfaction in watching them get their fill. Nom nom nom.

# Sound# Health and Wellness# Animals

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An Album of Cover Songs Honors the Legacy of Leonard Cohen

Though nearly six years have gone by since Leonard Cohen’s passing, the long shadow cast by his legacy as one of the 20th century’s most esteemed and idiosyncratic singer-songwriters shows no signs of lifting from the public’s imagination anytime soon. From the enveloping warmth of “Suzanne,” to the high drama of “Hallelujah,” to the chilling minimalist and gospel juxtaposition of his swansong “You Want it Darker,” Cohen managed to constantly reinvent himself, leaving behind the rare achievement of a musical body of work whose most impressive moments exist across eras.