Smart Cockatoos Soak Croutons 0 13

Researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna — the renowned Alice Auersperg, who has studied bird intelligence through the example of Goffin's cockatoo for many years, and her colleague Jeroen Zewald — report on soaked croutons and cockatoos. Laboratory cockatoos are offered a varied diet, including a mix of seeds, bread croutons, dried fruits, cornflakes, and special feed pellets. One day, the researchers noticed that one of the parrots took a crouton and carried it to a bowl of water, where it usually bathes. It dipped the crouton in the water, waited a bit, and then took it out and ate it.

After that, the researchers began to observe the parrots closely to find out all the details: what else they throw into the water, whether they play this way, or if they really soak the croutons for eating, and so on. As a result, another seven out of eighteen parrots began to soak croutons. Almost always, it was indeed croutons, not something else. On average, the parrots kept them in the water for twenty-three seconds — this time was enough to make the crouton soft. Some birds even showed ingenuity to soak the crouton: the bowl of water could be far away and high, and the parrot with the crouton in its beak would climb up a ladder or a grid. All of this indicated that their actions were purposeful: the cockatoos intentionally tried to soak the crouton in the water. Moreover, it was specifically the bread crouton — in its soft form, it was more pleasant to eat.

There are at least two and a half dozen animals that, so to speak, “wash” their food before consumption. However, it is not always clear why they do this and how much of this behavior is learned. In the case of Goffin's cockatoo, it can be confidently stated that soaking croutons is a true innovation, the result of certain reasoning. But what is surprising about that, if these same cockatoos can use tools and even plan how they will apply them.