In this perspective paper, we focus on the study of synchronization abilities across the animal kingdom. We propose an ecological approach to studying nonhuman animal synchronization that begins from observations about when, how and why an animal might synchronize spontaneously with natural environmental rhythms. We discuss what we consider to be the most important, but thus far largely understudied, temporal, physical, perceptual and motivational constraints that must be taken into account when designing experiments to test synchronization in nonhuman animals. First and foremost, different species are likely to be sensitive to and therefore capable of synchronizing at different timescales. We also argue that it is fruitful to consider the latent flexibility of animal synchronization. Finally, we discuss the importance of an animal's motivational state for showcasing synchronization abilities. We demonstrate that the likelihood that an animal can successfully synchronize with an environmental rhythm is context-dependent and suggest that the list of species capable of synchronization is likely to grow when tested with ecologically honest, species-tuned experiments.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology’.

在这篇透视论文中，我们专注于研究整个动物王国的同步能力。我们提出了一种研究非人类动物同步的生态方法，该方法从观察动物何时、如何以及为什么会与自然环境节奏自发同步开始。我们讨论了我们认为最重要但迄今为止尚未充分研究的时间、物理、感知和动机限制，在设计实验以测试非人类动物的同步时必须考虑这些限制。首先，不同的物种可能对不同的时间尺度敏感，因此能够同步。我们还认为，考虑动物同步的潜在灵活性是富有成效的。最后，我们讨论了动物的重要性' s 展示同步能力的动机状态。我们证明了动物成功与环境节奏同步的可能性是依赖于环境的，并表明当通过生态诚实的物种调整实验进行测试时，能够同步的物种列表可能会增加。

这篇文章是主题问题“同步与节奏交互：从大脑到行为生态学”的一部分。