Cockatoos can create and use sets of tools, say researchers

Researchers have revealed that Goffin’s cockatoos are able to figure out how to use sets of tools, select the best instrument for a job and even transport tools together before attempting to use them.

- Nicola Davis

Besides the cockatoos, researchers say the only other non-human species known to use tool sets in the wild are chimpanzees.

While New Caledonian crows have long been hailed as expert tool-users, new research has revealed the cockatoos are also proficient at creating instruments and using them, with one study describing how wild birds manufactured and used three types of tools as “cutlery” to extract seeds from tropical fruit.

But Dr Antonio Osuna-Mascaró, first author of the research from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, said it was previously unclear whether the birds were only turning to a second tool once the first proved to be no longer useful.

“Something that looks like a tool set can be nothing more than a chain of single tool uses,” he said, noting that there had previously been similar debate around tool set use in chimpanzees.