Sydney, Australia —(Map)
Scientists have been studying a group of sulphur-crested cockatoos in Sydney, Australia that have a clever trick: they’ve figured out how to drink from water fountains. The birds use one foot to turn the fountain’s handle and then lower their head to the spout, allowing them to drink.
Cockatoos are large, intelligent birds known for being able to solve problems, and for watching and learning from other cockatoos. Though birds like crows are also very smart, cockatoos have large, strong beaks and claws, allowing them to take on complex challenges with their bodies. In the past, scientists have studied Sydney’s cockatoos’ clever methods of opening heavy lids on trash cans to find food inside.
In 2018, Dr. Barbara Klump noticed a cockatoo drinking from a public drinking fountain in Sydney. She thought someone had left the water running by mistake. But after looking at a video, she realized that the bird was actually turning on the fountain by itself.
(Source: Klump et al., Biology Letters, via Western Sydney University.)
Dr. Klump and her team decided to study the cockatoos more closely. They tagged 24 cockatoos and set up two cameras near a drinking fountain that the birds used often. The cameras captured 14 hours of video over 44 days, showing 525 times when birds used the fountain.
The scientists found that about 70% of the birds in the area made efforts to use the fountain. Each bird did it a little differently, but they all used at least one foot to hold down the handle on the fountain and turn it on. Some put their other foot on the drinking spout. Once the water was running, they tried to drink from the fountain, sometimes scraping the rubber coating on the fountain’s top with their beaks.
“It’s a bit of an awkward body position they have to hold,” said Lucy Aplin, one of the scientists involved in the study.
(Source: Klump et al., Biology Letters, via Western Sydney University.)
Though the cockatoos are clever, they don’t always succeed. The researchers learned that the birds only got water in about 41% of their efforts to use the fountain. The birds had an especially hard time when they were in a hurry or when other cockatoos were trying to use the fountain at the same time.
The scientists aren’t exactly sure why the cockatoos started using the drinking fountains. They say one possible reason is that the clean water tastes better to them than water from a creek or puddle. Another possibility is that drinking from the fountain feels safer, since it makes it easier to keep an eye out for birds that might attack them, like eagles.
(Source: Klump et al., [CC BY 4.0], Biology Letters.)
Dr. Klump says it’s also possible that the cockatoos just like the challenge of making the fountain work. “If…you’re not dying of thirst,” she tells the New York Times, “Then why not do something you enjoy?”
The scientists believe the cockatoos learned to use the fountain by watching each other and by trying out different methods on their own.
Cockatoos seem to adjust easily to life in human-created environments like cities. The scientists say they’re eager to find out what skills the birds will develop next.
Did You Know…?
The researchers say they’ve heard reports that cockatoos in Brisbane have also begun to use drinking fountains. Since cockatoos don’t normally travel between Sydney and Brisbane, it seems like the birds in each location figured out the trick by themselves.
😕
This map has not been loaded because of your cookie choices. To view the content, you can accept 'Non-necessary' cookies.