Have you ever heard about the fact that a team of international scientists has proven that Sydney's cockatoos learn from each other a unique skill – lifting garbage bin lids to gather food. Yep, not only can they learn to open wheelie bins with their little hand-like claws – but they also teach each other to do it.
The world-first research published in Science confirmed that cockatoos spread this novel behaviour through social learning. Led by Dr Barbara Klump and Dr Lucy Aplin (Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior), along with Dr John Martin (Taronga Conservation Society) and Dr Richard Major (Australian Museum), the team have shown that this behaviour by cockatoos is actually learned, rather than a result of genetics.
“Like many Australian birds, sulphur-crested cockatoos are loud and aggro and often act like a pack of galahs. But they are also incredibly smart, persistent and have adapted brilliantly to living with humans,” Major said.
The research also proves that this behaviour is localised to cockatoo populations in Sydney. “Australian garbage bins have a uniform design across the country, and sulphur-crested cockatoos are common across the entire east coast. The first thing we wanted to find out is if cockatoos open bins everywhere,” explained Dr John Martin from the Taronga Conservation Society.
“We launched an online survey across Sydney and Australia with questions such as, ‘What area are you from, have you seen this behaviour before, and if so, when?’ The survey ran for two years and helped us determine how the behaviour spread to other cockatoos in Sydney.”
“By the end of 2019, residents from 44 areas observed the bin-opening behaviour showing that it had spread rapidly and widely. Further analysis of the survey results showed that the behaviour reached neighbouring districts more quickly than districts further away, indicating that the new behaviour wasn't popping up randomly across Sydney. These results show the animals really learned the behaviour from other cockatoos in their vicinity," Klump said.
By marking around 500 cockatoos with small paint dots at three selected hot spots, the researchers were able to observe which birds could open bins. It turned out that only around ten per cent could do so, most of which were males. The rest waited until the “pioneers” opened the garbage bins to then help themselves (nice – work smarter not harder, cockies).
There was one exception, however – in late 2018, a cockatoo in Northern Sydney reinvented the scavenging technique itself. Birds in neighbouring districts then copied the behaviour. Klump explained: “We observed that the birds do not open the garbage bins in the same way, but rather used different opening techniques in different suburbs, suggesting that the behaviour is learned by observing others.”
“Cockatoos are in-your-face winners with attitude – full of life, humour, and mischief, but always showing keen intelligence, natural curiosity and proven adaptability. Through this research and other projects, we are building a comprehensive picture of our native wildlife so that we can continue to share our neighbourhoods and have our lives enriched by the wonder of birds,” said Major from the Australian Museum.