Smart and smart. Cockatoo passed a test that only humans and chimpanzees could pass before

A new study shows that cockatoos are able to use a ‘toolbox’ to get cashews from a makeshift ‘food machine’.

Previously, only humans and chimpanzees were able to successfully pass the “toolkit test”, but now it seems that we have competitors – white parrots from Indonesia, also called Goffin’s cockatoo, writes Daily Mail .

In the course of the study, scientists built a kind of ghostly “food machine” where they hid the cockatoo’s favorite delicacy – cashew nuts. The parrots were presented with a series of tools and a puzzle, by solving which they could finally get the desired food.

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Note that Goffin’s cockatoos were previously known for their ability to make tools from tree branches, but now they were able to pass the “tool kit test” with stunning results. This means that these parrots are quite smart and able to plan what tools they need to achieve a goal and bring the right “toolbox” for the job.

In the experiment, the scientists placed cashews in a sort of transparent bird vending machine. To get the treat, the cockatoo had to first use a pointed tool to pierce the paper mesh in front of the nut. They then had to use a flexible plastic tool (a straw cut lengthwise) to push the nut away from the stand so that it fell out.

The results of the experiment show that two of the smartest birds figured out how to use two tools in just 35 seconds. What’s more, four out of five birds showed that they were able to plan a set of tools for the job and carry them in their beaks.

According to study co-author Antonio Osuna-Mascaro of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, these results suggest that cockatoos are so intelligent that they have a mental representation of the tools they will use.

Scientists note that humans, like chimpanzees, have previously passed this test – when we need to do something around the house, we do not go back and forth for tools, but are able to initially collect a set of tools that we may need. This study proves that cockatoos are just as good as humans at planning the set of tools they will need to achieve their goals.

Note that initially ten birds took part in the study. The alpha of the group, male Figaro, was one of the birds that mastered the instruments in just 35 seconds. Then, 5 out of 10 birds that mastered the tools took three different paths to a transparent box with a nut inside.

This experiment was specifically designed to show that cockatoos are able to plan the set of tools they need and use exactly those tools that may be useful in a particular case. A total of 4 out of 10 birds learned to carry two tools with them, in fact, cockatoos even figured out how to put a wooden tool in a plastic one to make it easier to “transport”.

Previously , Focus wrote that in Australia, people and cockatoos are fighting over garbage : an interspecies confrontation has interested scientists.