In Australia, cockatoos have learned to open the lids of garbage cans to feed on the remains. In addition, they teach each other and in Sydney the phenomenon is spreading among these animals that have already become city birds.
Cockatoos are an endemic species to Australia. They have adapted to life in the city, drinking from the fountains and looking for food in the streets. They survive so well among humans that they have learned to open garbage containers outside houses. Neither the stones nor the bricks that the neighbors place on the covers to prevent them from lifting them are obstacles for these yellow-crested birds. The animals throw these heavy objects on the ground and then open the lid with their beaks, put their heads back, push the lid back, tip it over the hinges … Et voilà , open container.
This ability has become so widespread in Sydney that researchers believe that birds mimic and learn from each other, which is a sign of cultural evolution . In the study, just published in Science and led by Barbara Klump and Lucy Aplin of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, John Martin of the Taronga Conservation Society and Richard Major of the Australian Museum, the team has shown that this behavior from cockatoos it is learned and not a result of genetics .
The team gathered 1,396 reports from residents of 478 Sydney suburbs, asking about the behavior of cockatoos when opening containers. In total, 338 incidents of looting of waste bins were recorded.
Before 2018, results show that these cockatoos’ bin opening abilities were limited to just three Sydney suburbs, widely spaced from each other. However, after 2019, the technique had also spread to 41 surrounding neighborhoods . It is a rapid spread in a very short period of time, and researchers believe it is because birds have learned and culturally adopted the technique.
The funny thing is that not all birds open garbage cans in the same way . In the far north of Sydney, for example, cockatoos often walk on the right side of the bucket while holding the lid, while in the center of the city, these birds waddle or jump with the lid on their head. The explanation scientists give is that this depends on who the birds were mimicking when they first learned the technique.
“Our results demonstrate that the spread of innovation can not only lead to the establishment of a culture, but it can also lead to emerging geographically distinct subcultures ,” the authors write.
Parrots, such as cockatoos, macaws, parakeets or lovebirds, are social and intelligent birds. In fact, some bird experts argue that cockatoos are just as intelligent as chimpanzees , that they also show signs of social learning and cultural transmission. Some chimpanzee populations, for example, have adopted a unique culture of digging for honey. Through imitation and social learning, these primates have figured out how to use sticks to extract this sweet delicacy from the logs of the forest floor.
The researchers also found that the larger male cockatoos tend to be the ones that manage to open the container lids more times and the older and more experienced ones, push the young ones away, forcing them to observe the technique.
In fact, more than 90% of the time that Sydneyns observed a cockatoo opening its bucket, there were several birds around, watching the attempt . Such close observation is an excellent opportunity to convey a skill through social learning.
“Although directionality cannot be determined from these data, these patterns are consistent with those expected of social learning,” the authors write, “with associated and more socially focused individuals who have better access to social information and, therefore, a greater probability of learning “.
