Cockatoos reveal ability to use tools by ‘playing golf’

Goffin’s cockatoos have shown their ability to combine tools and solve tasks through an experiment similar to a round of golf.

The research, published in Scientific Reports, demonstrated the Goffin’s cockatoo’s problem-solving ability by using a stick to push a ball through a box, triggering a trapdoor mechanism, and causing a cashew nut to be released for the bird.

Previously, the only known case of animals using two tools at the same time is the chimpanzee cracking nuts using an anvil and hammer.

“This is the first example of the combination of these abilities outside primates and indicates that the cognitive preconditions for composite tool use have also evolved outside the primate lineage,” the paper stated.

Despite no being dependent on tool obtained resources in the wild, in captivity Goffin’s cockatoos have proven themselves capable of using tools to solve physical problems.

“The flexible approach to tool related problems both in captivity as well as in the wild suggests that this species’ tool use behaviour is largely innovative.

“We define innovation here as the discovery of a new behavioural interaction with the physical environment, tapping into an existing opportunity and/or creating a new opportunity.”