1/12 Goffin's cockatoos, famed for their innovative abilities, are now surprising with a culinary breakthrough. This is only the second documented case of a non-human animal modifying a food to specifically alter its taste. It is a study by @zewaldj.bsky.social - ThreadSky

biotay.bsky.social • 11 days ago

1/12 Goffin's cockatoos, famed for their innovative abilities, are now surprising with a culinary breakthrough.

This is only the second documented case of a non-human animal modifying a food to specifically alter its taste.

It is a study by @zewaldj.bsky.social

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nicoleackermans.bsky.social•11 days ago

Do racoons washing their food count? or is that texture and not taste

biotay.bsky.social•10 days ago

In this case it is completely about texture, and water would not add a new flavor to the mix. Raccoons are very dependent on touch for perception, and - although I think it's been debated - it's accepted that they will wet their food to get information about what they're going to eat.

biotay.bsky.social•11 days ago

2/12 The earliest documented case is that of Japanese macaques on the island of Kōjima who washed sweet potatoes in seawater to give them a salty taste.

(paper, 1965) https://buff.ly/4hzP7k1

It is a potential example of cumulative culture.
(paper, 2018) https://buff.ly/4hxVFjf

biotay.bsky.social•11 days ago

3/12 The cockatoos at the Goffin Lab have discovered how to use yogurt to enhance the flavor of food, using specific techniques and with very clear preferences.

They prefer dipping pasta to potatoes, and they prefer blueberry yogurt to white yogurt.

(video) https://buff.ly/4gElL2T

biotay.bsky.social•11 days ago

4/12 The techniques observed are two: of the 9 cockatoos using yogurt as a condiment, 7 used a technique that we can call ‘push and drag’, and only two (Kiwi and Moneypenny) used ‘drop and pick’.

This is interesting, because it gives us clues to the techniques' origin.

biotay.bsky.social•11 days ago

5/12 It is possible that these two techniques were developed independently, and are evidence that this has been discovered twice separately.

But Kiwi and Moneypenny are the only ones that appeared in an earlier study by @zewaldj.bsky.social

biotay.bsky.social•11 days ago

6/12 In said study, @zewaldj.bsky.social analyzed how 7 of the 18 cockatoos in the lab had developed the habit of dipping bread before eating it. Very interesting because of the way they waited, showing great self-control.

(paper, 2023) https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0411

biotay.bsky.social•11 days ago

7/12 Well, Kiwi and Moneypenny are the only cockatoos to have developed both habits in the Goffin Lab, and this points to their “drop and pick” technique (to soak the paste in yogurt) being an adaptation of what they learned earlier with bread and water.

frecklesxx20.bsky.social•10 days ago

That is so cool!

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