#parrots

#parrots

Wild Cockatoos Make Their Own Cutlery Set - a Crowbar, an Ice Pick, and a Spoon to Eat Their Favorite FruitGoffin’s Cockatoos have been compared to 3-year-old humans because of their intelligence. But what 3-year-old has made their own cutlery set? Goffin’s Cockatoos, members of the parrot family have been observed by scientists to be crafting the equivalent of a crowbar, an icepick, and a spoon to open their favorite fruits. This is the first time that a bird has been seen making and using tools, a trait only known in humans, chimpanzees, and capuchin monkeys.Mark O’Hara of Messerli Research Institute discovered this behavior when he was working with wild but captive birds in a research aviary on Yamdena Island in Indonesia. “I’d just turned away, and when I looked back, one of the birds was making and using tools,” said O’Hara. In captivity, these birds have solved complex puzzle boxes and made rake-like tools to retrieve objects. Other birds like hyacinth macaws and New Caledonian crows also make tools for their food, but not a set of tools.O’Hara and his team went to this cockatoo’s home on Indonesia’s Tanimbar Islands for a new study and spent almost 900 hours looking up to watch cockatoos feed but didn’t witness tool use. This led the team to capture a small flock of 15 individuals and bring them to their research aviary to study for several months before setting them free.A male cockatoo bit away a sea mango tree’s fruit then quickly cut off a small branch from a tree inside the aviary. With quick bites into the stump, he formed a wedge-shaped tool. While holding the fruit with his left foot and resting on his right, he used his tongue to fit the wedge into the pit’s fissure, opening the pit. Next, a sharp splinter was used to pierce the parchment-like interior protecting the seeds. Lastly, he made a third tool to be used to spoon out the seeds.Most of the cockatoos are younger birds who watched the older birds’ actions. “We know they learn socially from each other in captivity,” said Berenika Mioduszewska, a comparative psychologist who co-led and co-authored the study.#Cockatoos #Parrots #Aviary #Birds #Tools