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Science

Innovative Cockatoo Stuns Scientists By Making Its Own Tools

Nov. 7, 2012 8:43pm Liz Klimas

Scientists Stumped Over How Cackatoo Learned to Make Tools to Obtain Food

Figaro (Image: Oxford University)

Alice Auersperg of the University of Vienna said she was surprised when a captive cockatoo named Figaro was seen using a tool to help him obtain an object. When researchers saw him actually make a tool, they were stunned.

According to University of Oxford’s announcement regarding the research, which has now been published in the journal Current Biology, the scientists are unsure just how Figaro ever learned to make a tool, but hope it will shed light on the “evolution of intelligence.”

Here’s how the team witnessed Figaro’s new skill, according to Auersperg:

“During our daily observation protocols, Figaro was playing with a small stone. At some point he inserted the pebble through the cage mesh, and it fell just outside his reach. After some unsuccessful attempts to reach it with his claw, he fetched a small stick and started fishing for his toy.

“To investigate this further we later placed a nut where the pebble had been and started to film. To our astonishment he did not go on searching for a stick but started biting a large splinter out of the aviary beam. He cut it when it was just the appropriate size and shape to serve as a raking tool to obtain the nut.

“It was already a surprise to see him use a tool, but we certainly did not expect him to make one by himself. From that time on, Figaro was successful on obtaining the nut every single time we placed it there, nearly each time making new tools. On one attempt he used an alternative solution, breaking a side arm off a branch and modifying the leftover piece to the appropriate size for raking.”

Watch Figaro make his tools:

Oxford University professor Alex Kacelnik said that Figaro is the only known one in his species to exhibit such tool-making capabilities, but crows have been observed to do similar things. Kacelnik said a crow named Betty made hooks out of wire to obtain food out of reach.

Still, Kacelnik said researchers are “struggling to identify the cognitive operations that make these deeds possible.”

With observations from these birds, Kacelnik hopes it may help scientists “unlock many unknowns in the evolution of intelligence.”

(H/T: GeekOSystem, Science Daily)

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Comments (28)

drenfroe
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 10:43pm
Well, how do you think animals survive in the wild.

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loneindividual
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 6:55pm
My dogs opened doors (sliding doors) but never figured out how to open up fences or turn handled knobs.

Animals have souls. They follow the light of their own spark and are capable of discovery and innovation.

Even Ants. Seriously…how did the ants learn how to build? From Masons? Please…The Ants even have their own “brotherhood”.

All living things have their own Eternal Progression….I’m just concerned for their Salvation (not for my own of course) cuz the purpose of Life is Continue Living…and Create more Life….cuz Life is Terrible…yet Terribly Beautiful.

It’s all gonna end though. Death is Truth & Only God can Conquer it.

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judyaz
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 2:37pm
Maybe he was parroting behavior he’d watched people do in the lab?

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Kevin
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 1:39pm
I don’t know, seems pretty stupid to me. I mean it had to make a tool each time instead of just re-using the one it already had. :)

On the other hand, it probably has a higher IQ than most of the liberal voters.

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- Redoran
  Posted on November 8, 2012 at 4:40pm
  If you watched closely, Figaro was further refining his tools for each attempt at securing a tasty morsel.
  
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Carlinpa
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 12:31pm
If a bird with a “Bird Brain” can learn to make something so it can eat and survive, why can’t can’t Liberals? Maybe we need to let the Cackatoo teach the liberals a thing or two.

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agnuid
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 12:24pm
Figaro for President! Long live the Cockatoo!

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agnuid
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 12:23pm
Figaro for President! Long live the bird

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beenaround
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 11:20am
Obviously not one of our liberal minorities

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capitalismrocks
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 10:26am
I owned a cockatoo for over 10 years, had to give him away to a bird handle because I couldn’t care for him anymore… the bird was unbelievably smart, knew how to open VERY complex locks and handles, would be very attentive and watch me when I opened his cage door. I had to put a padlock on his door because he was such an escape artist, so he watched how I put the key into the lock. I purposefully left the key within reach and sat down and watched TV for a while, not 10-15 minutes later, he took the key and was attempting to slide it into the lock. He couldn’t do it, but he understood the mechanics and understood the steps needs to attempt to make the lock open to be removed. This wasn’t mimicking, he was examining how to get the key into the lock, there was definitely a processing and problem solving effort taking place, these are very very intelligent animals.

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TheGrtDcptn
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 9:54am
An_American_Thinker wrote…

‘It always amazes me when scientists need to apply their theories of “evolution” to everything.’

You are exactly right AAT…their spewing of evolution is nothing more than propaganda…

I have been owned by parrots of all sizes for many years now and they are much smarter than this article implies. These so-called scientists FAIL at their propaganda…evolution my *$$…and they call themselves ‘intellectuals’…bwahahahahaha…

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Nancy in NC
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 9:19am
Wow…he’s not crying for FEMA to come to his rescue. Definitely not from the NE.

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nocommie
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:38am
I trust this bird more than scientist

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- rickc34
  Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:43am
  I wonder if he would be a better President than Obama. Lets put it to a vote. well he seems more intelligent.
  
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Uechi
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 8:18am
Scientists have consistently under estimated animal intelligence for centuries, As recent as the early 1970′s one of the so called criteria that distinguished man from other animals was our ability to make tools. Then Jane Goodall, Diane Fawcey and other scientists came along to demonstrate that was not true. So no surprise that bird brains may not be bird brains after all.

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mtnvortex
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 5:13am
A cockatoo? He didn’t build that!

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- harrysmallcraft
  Posted on November 8, 2012 at 5:24am
  I saw a program on crows who do the same thing, it’s amazing. Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
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girlnurse
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 4:22am
Just because they don’t speak our language we think theyre stupid. Animals know more than you think they do.

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Godrulz
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 4:20am
Smarter and more industrious than any Obama voter.

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adeleeeee
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 3:51am
cockatoo stuns scientists?

Scientists are well-trained dogs. Period.

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kathystone
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 3:35am
I watch with amazement the fools who are manipulated by animals. At a park In Newhall, the animals in the barnyard were put behind a barrier so the public could not feed some of them. The calf stuck his toungue out as far as he could to catch food thrown his way. The little pony would open her mouth real wide and then tip her head back to make a pocket for people to throw food in. An amazing number of visitors brought their dogs to the park. It was always funny to watch the dogs manipulate their owners into going one way or another.
It is only people who are too stupid to communicate. My favorite Bible story is the talking donkey in Numbers 22:22. Yea, go read it!

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Stoic one
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 3:29am
Cool observations….but observations only.

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Kupo
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 2:09am
It’s only a matter of time before they take over the world. I, for one, welcome our new cockatoo overlords.

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- sillyfreshness
  Posted on November 8, 2012 at 3:37am
  Lol. Gives new meaning to the phrase “bird brain.” I remember my dad shot a crow that was fighting with a squirrel when I was a kid. It was making too much noise, so he shot the crow. I’m still mad that he did that. I would never shoot a crow. They are too intelligent to harm. You got to respect them. They oftentimes will outsmart people.
  
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Aerocog
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 1:27am
The birds, the birds!

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An_American_Thinker
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 12:14am
It always amazes me when scientists need to apply their theories of “evolution” to everything. Why is innate intelligence so foreign to them?

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repairsea
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 12:14am
Educated idiots. The bird was surprised they could breath and walk at the same time.

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lel2007
Posted on November 7, 2012 at 11:52pm
Well that’ll make me think twice the next time I use the term ‘bird brain’.

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