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Cockatoo research: This is how clever (and cheeky) the birds are

12.8.2025

Translation: machine translated

Cockatoos are not only fascinating to look at. They are also inventive and have the groove in their blood, as researchers have discovered. An overview.

If you're in the parrot bubble, you've probably seen the funny videos of dancing cockatoos on Tiktok or YouTube. For everyone else, you can see here how a yellow-crested cockatoo called Snowball grooves to Michael Jackson.

30 dance moves

Researchers at Australia's Charles Sturt University have now discovered that cockatoos have 30 different dance moves. They headbang, bob from one foot to the other or sway their upper body back and forth.
The experts analysed 45 video clips from social networks. These included pink Goffin's cockatoos, yellow-crested cockatoos and white-crested cockatoos. The investigations were supplemented by behavioural observations at the Australian zoo Wagga Wagga Zoo & Aviary to ensure that the study was not based solely on social media. Incidentally, birds with the somewhat unsightly name of naked-eyed cockatoos danced the longest - for an average of two and a half minutes.

The birds' dance repertoire is vast: Here you can see which movement was observed how often.
Source: Dance behaviour in cockatoos: Implications for cognitive processes and welfare, Plos One

Balzritual or just for fun?

The surprising thing: Cockatoos not only dance to music, but also just like that. So far, researchers are still puzzling over why cockatoos do this. They suspect that animals kept as pets in particular (i.e. those in the social media videos) display a kind of courtship behaviour in order to show affection for their humans «» . It is not yet clear whether the birds dance simply for fun. In any case, the researchers emphasise that dancing helps to better understand cognitive processes such as imitation, creativity and playful behaviour in birds.

I can also observe that my cockatiels, which are small cockatoos from an ornithological point of view, like to dance. Although their movements are not as pronounced as those of their larger siblings, the males in particular - Rio, Cookie and Finni - dance a lot. Even when there is no desirable female around. I guess they just enjoy it and express their good humour in this way.

Newcomer Finni is very lively and does a lot of gymnastics.
Source: Anika Schulz

But cockatoos don't just have cool moves. They are also inventive when it comes to getting water and food

They crack water dispensers ...

In Sydney, cockatoos are to birds what pigeons and sparrows are to us: the common bird population. They roam the city in groups and live off what they find. And apparently the birds are picky: instead of drinking from puddles, they prefer fresh tap water. One group of cockatoos was observed drawing water from a water dispenser intended for humans. The whole thing looks like this on the YouTube channel of New Scientist:

A total of 500 drinking attempts over 44 days were observed by researchers according to The Royal Society, of which 46 per cent were successful. «The birds stand on the water dispenser, press the handle and lean forward to drink», Dr John Martin, co-author of the study, describes the rather complex movement sequence. He also assumes that the birds copy the behaviour from each other and that the water dispenser trick spreads as a result.

... and rubbish bins

By the way, water tapping is not the only way to get food. The cockatoos in Sydney have also discovered how to open rubbish bins to steal leftovers. They simply lift the lid with their foot, prise it open with their beak and help themselves. Human attempts to stop the birds have so far failed. Annoyed residents have tried to weigh down the lids of their rubbish bins with stones, but the cockatoos simply throw them down.

This video from Science News impressively shows how clever the animals are at it.

Why do cockatoos do this? Well, you probably like pizza better than grain food, don't you? Joking aside. Cockatoos love savoury food. And maybe that also explains their great thirst for fresh water.

Header image: Shutterstock

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Anika Schulz

Teamleader Editorial

Anika.Schulz@galaxus.de

As a child, I was socialised with Mario Kart on SNES before ending up in journalism after graduating from high school. As a team leader at Galaxus, I'm responsible for news. I'm also a trekkie and an engineer.

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Cockatoo research: This is how clever (and cheeky) the birds are

30 dance moves

Balzritual or just for fun?

They crack water dispensers ...

... and rubbish bins

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