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Tenacious 'trash parrots' [cockatoos] locked in escalating 'arms race' with humans Down Under
.livescience.com ^ | Harry Baker

Posted on 09/14/2022 1:21:50 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Residents in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, are in the midst of an escalating feud with a neighboring population of wild sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) over an unlikely prize: household trash. While this conflict may sound comical, researchers report that it shows all the signs of an "innovation arms race," in which two species become trapped in a cycle of behavioral changes as they continually try to one-up or outthink one another.

The sharp-witted cockatoos have earned the unflattering nickname "trash parrots" after learning to open up flip-top garbage bins to pillage their contents. In 2018, videos shared online showed the resourceful birds grabbing onto the rims of bin lids with their beaks or feet, shimmying down toward the hinge and eventually flipping the plastic covers entirely off the containers. After watching the footage, researchers investigated the behavior and found that the cockatoos were working out how to open the bins by observing one another, which is known as social learning.

Since then, local residents have deployed numerous countermeasures — including bricks, sticks, locks and even rubber snakes — to prevent the cunning cockatoos from inadvertently covering the streets in trash. However, not all these countermeasures have proven to be effective at outwitting the cockatoos, who continue to outsmart the humans and break into bins where they can.

These countermeasures ranged from simple solutions, such as weighing down the lid with bricks or water bottles, to more ingenious ideas... However, the major limitation of all these countermeasures is that bin collectors must be able to easily remove the lid in order to collect the trash inside.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: cockatoos
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Are these legal in Australia?


1 posted on 09/14/2022 1:21:50 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

These birds fetch 100’s of dollars alive in the U.S.


2 posted on 09/14/2022 1:23:15 PM PDT by fwdude (Racism is not dead, but it is on life support - kept alive by politicians….” — Thomas Sowell)
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To: BenLurkin

They are very smart birds........................


3 posted on 09/14/2022 1:24:09 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: BenLurkin

4 posted on 09/14/2022 1:25:52 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: BenLurkin
Well, I'll admit that a bird THIS smart deserves some credit,... and a break...

Trash Parrot

5 posted on 09/14/2022 1:27:20 PM PDT by fwdude (Racism is not dead, but it is on life support - kept alive by politicians….” — Thomas Sowell)
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To: BenLurkin

Sounds like they’re the raccoons of down under.


6 posted on 09/14/2022 1:28:23 PM PDT by RedMonqey
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To: BenLurkin

They must be kin to squirrels and raccoons.

Nuisances, all.


7 posted on 09/14/2022 1:29:32 PM PDT by moovova
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To: Jeff Chandler

8 posted on 09/14/2022 1:31:50 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
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To: BenLurkin
Make a garden. Use anything organic as compost. Only throw inedible items in the bins. Consume, compost or bury all else.

The birds will go somewhere else...like your neighbors garbage.

9 posted on 09/14/2022 1:32:21 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Great minds drink alike...me and my baby havin' a hell of a night. - - BB King)
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To: BenLurkin; Fred Nerks
Cockatoo Menace!

https://youtu.be/l8NOR1L1-sg

10 posted on 09/14/2022 1:33:37 PM PDT by Candor7 (ObamaFascism:https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html)
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To: Red Badger

Their intelligence is (essentially) that of a 5 year old human.


11 posted on 09/14/2022 1:37:03 PM PDT by 1FreeAmerican
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

>> Only throw inedible items in the bins. <<

The problem is all the stuff that isn’t edible but smells edible: meat diapers, pizza boxes, peanut-butter jars, condiment bottles. Most non-recyclable household trash smells like food if you’re trash panda.


12 posted on 09/14/2022 1:39:26 PM PDT by dangus
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To: fwdude
Sure it's cute when it's one bird, one time. But imagine hundreds of thousands of birds that smart. An actual photo of a flock of cockatoos in Australia, where they are native:
13 posted on 09/14/2022 1:41:36 PM PDT by dangus
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To: BenLurkin

Plenty of cockatoo videos on youtube. They are smart! Also, friendly and loud.


14 posted on 09/14/2022 1:41:49 PM PDT by TChad ("Joe, we should evacuate the civilians before the military. You understand that, right? Joe?")
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To: dangus

Target. Rich. Environment.


15 posted on 09/14/2022 1:45:05 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Great minds drink alike...me and my baby havin' a hell of a night. - - BB King)
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To: 1FreeAmerican

“Their intelligence is (essentially) that of a 5 year old human.”

Crickey, that is just a wee bit more than the average democrat


16 posted on 09/14/2022 1:45:16 PM PDT by dsrtsage ( Complexity is just simple lacking imagination)
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To: dangus

Imagine if those flocks were in the US, and all trained to say FJB!


17 posted on 09/14/2022 1:47:38 PM PDT by 9422WMR (45 1. Lie, cheat, steal. It’s how the democRATS operate. )
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To: Red Badger

I have one, used to have 2 of them. They are well known as escape artists, they learn how to manipulate locks and latches quickly.


18 posted on 09/14/2022 1:48:00 PM PDT by allwrong57
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To: dangus

19 posted on 09/14/2022 1:48:34 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: 9422WMR

>> Imagine if those flocks were in the US, and all trained to say FJB! <<

That’s exactly what the Left thinks of “Fox News viewers” and “MAGA types”


20 posted on 09/14/2022 1:51:26 PM PDT by dangus
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