Michelle Milliken
A certain bird species in Australia has smarts to open up trash can to find food, and now it seems that they have learned another interesting skill.
A study recently published in the journal Biological letters Used motion-activated cameras to keep an eye on sulfur-crested cockatoos at water fountains in western Sydney, Australia. Birds in the southern area of the city were observed to enter trash cans in previous research, and the team would know if other localized groups of the species had gained skills in response to human changes in their environment. There have been wider skills picked up over urban areas, but the team says there are no plenty of examples of localized innovations like this one.
The results of the new study found that a cockatoo population in western Sydney has found out how to serve the twisting handles fountain to get itself a drink. This has been going on for at least two years.
Dr. John Martin, Study Co-Author and An Honorary Researcher at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Says, “We Watched the Cockatoos Operating the Drinking Fountain Using Coordinated Actions With Both Feet. Right -on the Twist-Handle or the Valve, with the Other Foot Used to Grip the Rubber Spout or Bubbler.
“The weight of the bird would then be lowered to turn the turning handle clockwise and prevent it from jumping back. We would observe the bird and then turn the head to access the liquid water.”
The researchers found that the birds were successful about 41% of the time. At a particular water fountain, there were 525 trials over 44 days, with 46% of the marked birds raining it. Sometimes there was even a line.
The team says this knowledge was probably spread through social learning and reflects the intelligence that the birds have to adapt to a habitat changed by humans.
Dr. Martin says, “Research shows that despite challenges such as loss of habitat, Cockato’s very successful city adapters are the first time we are aware that wild parrots are developing this kind of innovative drinking behavior.
“We know that cockatoos have a particularly high level of innovativity and problem solving and are attracted to news. It shows that this kind of drinking innovation can be learned and then spread between a local bird population that forms a new urban-adapted tradition.”
You can check video of the artificial birds below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wxol_95_6G
Read more articles by Michelle Milliken.