A new study details the arms race between pillaging parrots and frustrated residents over trash in Australia, noting both sides appear to learn tricks from their peers.
In the suburbs of Sydney, garbage bins are the front lines of a messy battle between humans and birds. On one side are raven-size dumpster-diving parrots called sulfur-crested cockatoos; on the other are homeowners who’d like to stop cleaning up after the sloppy eaters. In a new study, researchers detail the arms race between pillaging parrots and frustrated residents, noting both sides appear to learn tricks from their peers.
Australia’s cockatoos have a taste for trash. To access their favorite snacks, such as bits of old bread or scraps of ham sandwiches, the bright white birds use their curved beaks and feet to pry bin lids open. After helping themselves to a trash buffet, they toss away anything unappetizing, leaving trash strewn about.
Like the parrots, humans learned from their neighbors, as the researchers discovered by asking more than 1000 people how they devised their cockatoo control methods. Of the 172 people who said they guarded their trash, 64% said. Residents of the same street often practiced similar strategies. “There was an element of social learning involved,” Klump says.
The cockatoos seem up to the challenge. The researchers observed them knocking loose bricks and rocks from trash bins and squeezing through restricted openings.
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