Goffin's cockatoos make the same tool type from different materials

Biol Lett. 2016 Nov;12(11):20160689. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0689.

Abstract

Innovative tool manufacture is rare and hard to isolate in animals. We show that an Indonesian generalist parrot, the Goffin's cockatoo, can flexibly and spontaneously transfer the manufacture of stick-type tools across three different materials. Each material required different manipulation patterns, including substrates that required active sculpting for achieving a functional, elongated shape.

Keywords: innovation; parrot; tool manufacture.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cockatoos / physiology*
  • Male
  • Tool Use Behavior*