Cockatoos pick the right tool for the job and carry their 'toolkits'
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This is Antonio Osuna-Mascar贸, one of the scientists involved in this research
We humans use tools every single day, but there are very few animals know how to use them.
There are even fewer that can use a set of tools as well as pick the best one for the job.
One is the chimpanzee, the other is a New Caledonian crow, but now scientists have found a cockatoo can too!
But how did scientists find this out and what does it mean?
You can see this cockatoo using the pointy stick to pierce through an element of the puzzle, and the more flexible stick is by its side for the next step
Scientists showed 10 cockatoos a puzzle box with a favourite tasty treat inside - a cashew nut.
The birds could only get to the nut with a series of tools - first a stick to pierce an element of the puzzle and then a more flexible tool to get the cashew out.
Each tool needed to be used in a particular order and in a certain way for the cockatoo to be successful.
The cockatoos also learned to take both tools with them because they didn't know which would be needed - something that has only been seen in our closest relatives - the chimpanzee.
According to the scientists, this cockatoo called Figaro, was very good at getting the cashew out of the puzzle box!
Researchers also sometimes changed the layout of the puzzle box and removed the element that needed to be pierced.
This way they could see whether the cockatoo was really solving the puzzle that was in front of them.
Some cockatoos, like Figaro above, were able to do it first time and in around 30 seconds!
Others needed a few more attempts and took longer.
The Goffin's cockatoo is a type of parrot
It can be found in the Banda Sea Islands of Yamdena and Larat in Indonesia
They eat things like seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, and some insects
They are 'near threatened' birds
Chimpanzees are the only other animal to have been observed using a tool set and anticipating needing more than one tool for example, when fishing out termites for dinner
Why is this important?
Some scientists think that the use of tools can tell you a lot about an animal's intelligence and what they understand about the world.
Most tool-using animals only use one tool for a specific job, but chimpanzees - and now cockatoos - have been found to anticipate needing more than one tool for a specific task.
Scientists also observed the cockatoos switching between both tools to find the best one for the task.
One of the researchers said he found the results "remarkable"!
- Published14 February 2023
- Published14 February 2023
- Published5 February 2023
