Wild parrots in Australia learn to enter trash cans

Scientists have discovered the latest fad sweeping the Sulfur-crested Cockatoo parrots in Sydney, Australia: lifting lids on trash cans to mark a snack. In a new study this week, they detail the recent emergence and spread of this learned behavior, which they say is a common but not always easily observable example of cultural change occurring in non-human animals.

Lucy Aplin and her team at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior have a long history of exploring the social life of animals, with a particular focus on birds. Their previous research, for example, has show that Great Tit in the UK can quickly grasp and then pass on a method of solving a puzzle that would produce juicy mealworms – a learning skill that could Explain how these birds en masse looted the milk bottles of an English town a century earlier by smashing the caps so they could steal the cream inside.

This time, Aplin and his team worked with other researchers in Australia to investigate recent sightings of the Sulfur-crested Cockatoo, a native bird, breaking into Sydney’s garbage cans.

“We are very interested in understanding the potential role of the spread of innovation as a mechanism for behavioral flexibility in changing environments like cities, so when we first saw this new innovation in cockatoos, we knew that we needed to study if it spread through learning, ”Aplin, who heads Max Planck’s cognitive and cultural ecology lab, told Gizmodo in an email.

Their new research, published Thursday in the journal Science, had several different angles. First, they interviewed residents of various neighborhoods between 2018 and 2019 to find out if they had seen the birds diving in the trash. Ultimately, they collected over 300 sightings of raised trash lids in 44 suburban neighborhoods, most involving multiple parrots. Then they came out and marked over 400 cockatoos (with temporary color marking) find in three hot spots so they can observe the behavior for themselves.

From all of their work, they determined that prior to 2018, lifting the trash can lid likely only happened in three suburbs. But as this behavior began to spread, they discovered that it would subtly move from place to place, essentially creating leavening local flavors. Birds in a neighborhood can keep the lid in place all the time, unlike birds that open the lid fully, for example. There were also clear patterns as to who did the lift, with males accounting for 84% of the attempts. Birds of all ages lifted their eyelids, suggesting the behavior was passed down to different groups of cockatoo society, but the most socially dominant males tended to be the top performers, possibly indicating that they had first ate in the trash.

“Our study adds to the evidence that other animals have a culture and shows how new innovations can spread across populations to lead to new behaviors,” Aplin said.

Behaviors learned in socially adept animals have been documented several times before, such as in chimpanzees. impart knowledge on the use of tools. In these observations, there was also evidence of cultural diversity, with different groups of chimpanzees adopting different variations in the use of the tools. But according to Aplin, there has been less work on how humans and the environments we create can directly shape animal culture, especially up close like this.

“These results show that new cultures can also develop rapidly in response to human-provided urban opportunities,” she said.

While it’s possible that trash burglaries will become the hottest craze in the cockatoo world, the behavior has actually spread less quickly than Aplin and his team thought. One of the possible reasons for this delay could simply be that it’s not exactly the easiest trick to learn, as birds can take months to get used to. Natural barriers like forests could hinder its spread to other neighborhoods, as could the fact that male birds (as opposed to females) tend to stay close to home. Parrots in cities also tend to migrate less, which could affect their popularity compared to suburbs. And of course, there are always those intrusive humans to worry about.

“People are starting to protect trash cans because they would naturally like to reduce the damage caused by cockatoos passing through them!” Aplin noted. “We’re really interested in following this human behavior over time to see what effect it has on cockatoo behavior.”

Whatever happens to these trash-loving birds, Aplin and his team hope their research can shed light on how animals can culturally adapt to an evolving world, just as humans have. for millennia.

“Our capacity for innovation and culture is the secret of our success, allowing us to live in many different environments and adapt to many new situations. This work shows that this ability is not entirely limited to humans – some other animals also have the capacity for rapid behavioral adaptation, ”she said. “Anthropogenic change is rapid and increasing – understanding these behavioral responses to new environments is vitally important if we are to understand when and how animals will cope with these changes. “