{"id":273612,"date":"2025-06-04T22:28:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T22:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/these-australian-cockatoos-learned-to-operate-drinking-fountains-with-their-feet-to-quench-their-thirst\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T22:28:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T22:28:39","slug":"these-australian-cockatoos-learned-to-operate-drinking-fountains-with-their-feet-to-quench-their-thirst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=273612","title":{"rendered":"These Australian Cockatoos Learned to Operate Drinking Fountains With Their Feet to Quench Their Thirst"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Birds in Sydney\u2019s western suburbs have figured out how to get a sip from the fountains, even though they have access to nearby streams<\/h2>\n
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Sara Hashemi<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cockatoos in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, will wait in line for a taste of drinking fountain water.
\n Klump et al., Biology Letters<\/em>, 2025<\/a><\/span>
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Australia\u2019s suburban-dwelling cockatoos are adept at picking up new skills. The clever birds had already figured out how to open trash cans<\/a> to access scraps in neighborhoods outside Sydney\u2014and now, scientists have observed others using their claws to turn on drinking fountains.<\/p>\n

Barbara Klump<\/a>, a behavioral ecologist now at the University of Vienna, first noticed the cockatoos drinking from public water fountains west of Sydney in 2018. She thought someone had forgotten to turn off the water, but video footage from her research project showed a bird operating the handle with its foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, of course, a million questions went through my mind,\u201d she tells Gemma Conroy at the New York Times<\/em><\/a>. \u201cHow the hell did it figure that out?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, after monitoring cockatoos with wildlife cameras placed near one drinking fountain in Sydney\u2019s western suburbs, Klump and her research team have confirmed that the birds regularly do this in local parks\u2014something local wildlife experts also told her, per the New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Over 44 days, the team recorded nearly 14 hours of the cockatoos around the fountain. The birds made 525 drinking attempts, of which 41 percent were successful. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Smart cockatoos use their beaks and claws to drink from water fountain<\/p>\n

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