In the wild, the Tanimbarkakadua parrot bird already uses tools that function like knives, wedges and spoons to access fruit pulp.
Researchers in Austria wanted to find out if these are learned behaviors, or if the birds can solve unknown problems with completely different types of tools.
The inspiration for the experiment comes from wild chimpanzees that use tools.
The monkeys smash termite mounds with blunt sticks and then fish the termites out with a straw.
The birds solved the task in 30 seconds
The Tanimbarka cockatoos faced different transparent boxes in a lab.
Inside was a delicious cashew nut.
To access it through holes in the box, the parrots had to pierce a protective paper and then pry the nut down from a shelf using a split straw.
All the birds managed to figure this out in half a minute - even though they had never experienced anything like this.
The right tools for the job
The researchers then changed the interior of the boxes so that sometimes only one tool was needed to access the nut.
This was realized by the cockatoos, who made sure to bring the right tool kit when they flew up to the box, or went to it up a ladder.
- They are not only super fast and innovative, but they also understand that they are using a tool kit, says evolutionary biologist Antonio Osuna Mascaró at the University of Vienna, who is behind the experiment.
In the 1970s, Tanimbarka cockatoos were common as pets, but today they are protected in the wild.
However, you can buy them as caged birds from approved breeders.
- I'm sure many would like to have one like this at home.
But we should respect these exotic animals and let them fly freely in nature, believes Antonio Osuna Mascaró.
See how the experiment with the cashew nut went in the clip above.