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Cockatoos Enjoy a Soggy Snacks, Too

Humans aren’t the only species with peculiar dining habits, as researchers have recently discovered that some cockatoos exhibit a rather unique behavior – they dunk their food before indulging in a meal. The unexpected observation came to light when researchers at the University of Vienna noticed captive Goffin’s cockatoos engaging in this intriguing dining practice during their lunchtime feed, reminiscent of how some people dip biscuits in tea or cookies in milk.

Published in the journal Biology Letters, the researchers detailed their findings after conducting experiments in the birds’ aviary. They offered a variety of food items, including twice-baked bread (rusk), dried fruit, seeds, and bird pellets, placing them alongside tubs of water. Over 12 days, the team meticulously recorded which birds dunked, the type of food they dunked, the duration of the dunking, and whether the soaked item was subsequently consumed.

Surprisingly, seven out of the 18 cockatoos displayed the food-dunking behavior, with rusk being the preferred item for most. Two particularly enthusiastic dunkers demonstrated a preference for consuming wet rusks. Occasionally, dried banana chips and coconut chips also took a dip, but the cockatoos generally favored these snacks in their dry state.

The researchers ruled out several possible explanations for the behavior. The absence of live prey and the availability of water made drowning and fluid acquisition unlikely motives. Furthermore, the birds weren’t dunking for seasoning, as they used fresh, unflavored tap water. The researchers concluded that the cockatoos likely dunked rusks to alter their texture, suggesting a form of spontaneous foraging innovation.

What makes this behavior particularly intriguing is the level of impulse control and delayed gratification it implies. The researchers noted that not all birds engaged in food dunking, and it has not been observed in the wild, suggesting a unique innovation by individual or multiple cockatoos.

Professor Simon Reader from McGill University, who was not involved in the study but has studied dunking behavior in wild Carib grackle birds, expressed surprise that such behavior had not been documented in parrots before. He emphasized that, like the parrots, dunking appears to be a strategic behavior influenced by the costs and benefits at a given time.