The ability of yellow-crested cockatoos to open garbage cans has spread rapidly from 3 to 44 areas in Sydney in just two years.
Research conducted in Sydney, Australia revealed that the ability of yellow-tufted cockatoos to open garbage cans quickly spread from 3 areas to 44 in just two years. A skill they had to learn to survive.
You learn by imitating, this also applies to some species of animals. In fact, yellow-tufted cockatoos (cacatua galerita) have learned from each other how to open garbage cans to look for food. This is what emerges from new research published in Science which shows how this behavior, produced by social learning and not by genetics, is rapidly spreading in the suburbs of Sydney in Australia.
Children are masters of social learning. From an early age, they copy skills from other children and adults. However, compared to humans, there are few known examples of animals learning from each other, ”said Barbara Klump, lead co-author of the research.
The researchers invited Australians to report sightings of yellow-tufted cockatoos while doing dumpster diving. As of 2018, only three areas of Sydney had similar stories been reported, but the ability to open garbage cans has spread rapidly since late 2019, with sightings reported in 44 areas. (READ also: These magpies give us a lesson in recycling, swapping caps for food. Hans Forsberg's BirdBoxes)
Through mapping, the researchers showed how the behavior in question reached districts close to those where it was already occurring faster than in those further away, indicating that the new behavior was not popping up randomly across Sydney.
These results show that the animals really learned the behavior from other cockatoos in their vicinity, ”Klump pointed out.
Dive into the dumpster
The researchers marked around 500 birds in certain spots that opened the garbage can. After observing 160 birds in action, they took note of the various steps of this dive in the dumpsters: first, the bird lifts the lid in the front corner with its beak; then, holding it slightly open, look inside; finally, he turns the lid over.
The techniques used by the individual birds, however, were slightly different from each other: some held the handle of the lid, others limited themselves to holding the lid itself, while some held it both with the beak and with the leg. The more the "dives" were geographically distant, the more the techniques of the birds differed.
We observed that birds do not open garbage cans in the same way, but use different opening techniques in different suburbs, suggesting that the behavior is learned by observing others, ”explained Klump indicating how for them these results are the emergence of regional subcultures.
Researchers are still not sure how this behavior started. In an interview with The Guardian, co-author John Martin of the Taronga Conservation Society speculated that cockatoos may have started rummaging in overfilled or already open dumpsters on windy days.
Like many Australian birds, yellow-tufted cockatoos are loud and aggressive, and often behave like a herd of galahs. But they are also incredibly intelligent, persistent and have adapted brilliantly to living with humans, ”said Richard Major, senior principal investigator at the Australian Museum Research Institute.
While the research will lead to a broader understanding of urban wildlife, we are a little less enthusiastic. Due to the many trees felled in favor of excessive urbanization, cockatoos have had to adapt to the new conditions of their ecosystem. Diving into human garbage containers is now easier for them than finding food in trees, a chilling situation that should make us think.
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FONTE: Science / Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
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