![A Goffin's cockatoo holds two tools simultaneously in front of a puzzle box.](https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2023/02/n21146964/jcr:content/image.img.cq5dam.thumbnail.500.500.jpg/1676063303901.jpg)
Popular Science: Clever cockatoos carry around toolkits
UC biologist explains how birds use tools to solve complex problems
Popular Science turned to a University of Cincinnati biologist to explain how some birds use multiple tools to solve complex problems.
Elizabeth Hobson, an assistant professor of biology in UC's College of Arts and Sciences, talked about the Goffin's cockatoo, a bird native to Indonesia that uses a variety of tools to pry open hard nuts or to reach food hidden in tree cavities.
UC Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hobson studies the behavior of bobwhite quail in her biology lab. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
In a study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna found that cockatoos presented with a problem in a lab setting could adapt tools to particular uses. In experiments, researchers gave cockatoos a pointy stick to pierce a paper membrane protecting a nut and a flexible straw to drag it to them through a narrow tube.
Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the birds easily succeeded in the timed trials.
In another experiment, the researchers gave the birds tools on one side of a flight cage that could help them solve a problem at the other side. The researchers found the birds simultaneously carried both tools with them to solve the problem and efficiently reach their food reward.
Hobson was not part of the study but has examined the complex social behaviors of birds such as monk parakeets and little blue penguins.
She told Popular Science that this kind of anticipatory thinking is an important skill birds use in the wild where they encounter challenging obstacles on a daily basis.
“It fleshes out more details about what the cockatoos are capable of in terms of tool use, and builds on recent documentation of tool use in this species in the wild,” Hobson told Popular Science.
Read the Popular Science story.
Featured image at top: A cockatoo carries two tools with it to solve a puzzle efficiently. Photo/University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
UC Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hobson spoke to Popular Science about the surprising problem-solving abilities of birds. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
Related Stories
Smithsonian: UC finds pollution in ancient Maya city
July 2, 2020
Smithsonian Magazine examines research by University of Cincinnati that found toxic pollution in ancient Maya reservoirs.
Haaretz: UC study sheds light on environmental collapse
June 29, 2020
Haaretz and other international media report on UC's research into ancient Maya water pollution.
Cincinnati Edition: Did ancient Maya build parks?
July 20, 2021
UC biology professor David Lentz talks to Cincinnati Edition about their multi-disciplinary investigation of plants that grew along ancient Maya reservoirs more than 1,000 years ago.
BBC: Maya's ingenious secret to survival
August 9, 2021
UC researchers discover evidence of water filtration in ancient Maya city of Tikal.
WaPo: Ancient Maya beat heat by planting trees
August 4, 2021
The Washington Post's KidsPost features University of Cincinnati research in the ancient Maya city of Tikal that found evidence of ancient natural parks at reservoirs.
Smithsonian: UC researchers uncover ancient Maya water filtration
November 6, 2020
International news media highlight UC archaeologists' discovery of advanced water filtration system in ancient Maya city.
WVXU: UC finds pollution in ancient Maya reservoirs
August 6, 2020
A study by experts across disciplines at UC found that ancient Maya reservoirs in Tikal were polluted with toxic cyanobacteria and mercury, which likely hastened the demise of the ancient city during droughts. UC biology professor David Lentz tells Cincinnati Edition the findings could help explain the mystery of why people abandoned the city.
NPR: Excavations reveal sophisticated Mayan water filtration
November 9, 2020
Weekend Edition's Scott Simon interviews UC researchers who discovered that the ancient Maya used sophisticated water filtration system at Tikal.
Ancient Origins: Maya cities had unique neotropical forest parks
June 25, 2021
Ancient Origins highlights UC research at the ancient Maya city of Tikal that found evidence of trees and wild vegetation growing along two reservoirs.
AP: Study details environmental impacts of early Chaco residents
November 1, 2021
The Associated Press highlights UC research at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, that found evidence suggesting people cultivated crops to live there year round.