Cockatoo vs Humans: Battle for the Barrel

The parrot lifts the lid of the trash can

Bricks, stones, water bottles – there’s a strange struggle raging in southern Sydney: the local sulfur-crowned cockatoo likes to rummage through litter boxes there for something to eat. Because animals also distribute waste in the area, residents install heavy objects on the boxes so that the birds cannot open them anymore. Barbara Klamp of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Radolfzell and her team have studied conflict between humans and parrots, thus identifying a prime example of behavioral biology. Apparently, both sides are constantly developing new methods of attack and defense, copying new technologies from specific species or neighbors and then adapting their tactics. for their current studies In the journal “Current Biology” The researchers examined the defense methods of the population and were able to identify the true technology groups.

The white cockatoo with amazing yellow plumage preys on neglected food. The working group has already learned the research that new parrots have learned for food in a study conducted in 2021 in science” described. While the birds are sitting on the edge of the box, the birds with their beak raise the lid and then fold it down. Depending on the region, parrots have developed different technologies. “We’ve really been able to show that this is a cultural behavior,” Clamp says. According to a press release. “Cockatoos learn behavior by observing other cockatoos, and within each group they have their own style, so these vary over a large geographical area.”