Intelligent Cockatoos Amaze Scientists by Mastering Water Fountain Use

In Sydney, Australia where iconic landmarks, stunning harbors, beautiful beaches, and thriving cultural scenes cover the vibrant coastal metropolis, iintelligent cockatoos have figured out the impossible. They have learned how to drink from water fountains by themselves. Even though it is not determined why these birds pick a challenging way over an easy water source, it is assumed that they just have a simple enjoyment of the task and have been doing it for many years.

In 2018, Barbara C. Klump, an author who was published in the journal Biology Letters with a study of the birds, also known as a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, first spotted these sulfur-crested cockatoos during a field research project as they were drinking from public bubblers. At first, she thought that somebody had left the faucet on, but when she checked the video footage, she found that the birds grab the spring-loaded handle with theirits feet to activate the trickling water.

She was amazed and asked local wildlife officials; they informed her that these mohawked birds have been doing this activity for many years in this area. Dr. Klump was still confused about what she saw and even said, “How the hell did it figure that out?” To find out, she and her colleagues tagged 24 birds from a large population of about 150 in Western Sydney. in front of the water fountains to be able to study the birds‘ attempt at the challenge.

Among the 44 days of footage, cockatoos attempted to use the drinking fountains more than 500 times. A hint that they had most likely been carrying out this behavior and habit for a long time was that around 70 percent of the birds that were tagged had tried to use the bubblers. Yet when they studied the footage, they discovered that the minority of the cockatoos were successful after studying the footage, suggesting the activity requires a complex sequence of motor skills that are tricky to master.

Cockatoos are very smart birds and are often known for their ability to adapt to their urban and suburban environments. They can also pick up new skills, which is similar to humans, and the cockatoos have most likely developed their fountain-hacking talents through a mix of watching one another and individual experimentation. Not only do they know how to drink from water fountains, they also have the skill to open heavy garbage lids.

When opening the garbage lids, the male cockatoos were better than the female, but the studies after from the drinking fountain show that both female and male are equal at this challenging puzzle. Cockatoos are very intelligent creatures and