The big yellow-crested cockatoo, which historically inhabited the woods of Australia and neighboring countries, appreciated the advantages that settlements give it, and now this bird is widespread in city areas.
In Sydney, parrots have adapted to their new environment, quenching their thirst in public drinking fountains and foraging from garbage heaps: to do this, they even learned to open the lids of trash cans.
Not only have the birds mastered a new skill for themselves: they are constantly improving in it.
After the local residents, dissatisfied with the garbage scattered around the tanks, began to put heavy stones on the lids, the cockatoo figured out how to get around this obstacle.
The bird methodically pushes the stone to the edge until it falls, and then, propping up the lid with its head, it knocks it over.
At the same time, parrots have created a number of unique techniques. So, in the northern part of Sydney, the cockatoo bypasses the tank on the right side, holding on to the lid, and in the city center, they pull the lid towards themselves, being on it.
It possibly depends on who these creatures imitated in the learning process.
There is both age and sex differentiation: in particular, males cope with the lids more easily than females, and older individuals push off the young and tend to open the lid themselves, while they are just watching.
This becomes a “school” where cockatoos learn to forage in an urban setting.
The behavior of parrots has been little studied, despite the fact that they are very social and have intelligence.
Some specialists argue that cockatoos are as smart as chimpanzees, but the evidence base is still lacking. But cockatoos are known to be great drummers.
