Cockatoo can make its own tools too

A cockatoo from a species not known to use tools in the wild has been observed spontaneously making and using tools for reaching food and other objects. A cockatoo called 'Figaro', that has been reared in captivity and lives near Vinnea, used his powerful beak to cut long splinters out of wooden beams, or twigs out of a branch, to reach and rake in objects out of its reach. Researchers from the University of Oxford and Vinnea filmed Figaro making and using tools.How the bird discovered how to make and use tools is unclear but shows how much we still don't understand about innovative behaviour and intelligence.

    "During our daily observation protocols, Figaro was playing with a small stone. At some point he inserted the pebble through the cage mesh, and it fell just outside his reach. After some unsuccessful attempts to reach it with his claw, he fetched a small stick and started fishing for his toy," said Alice Auersperg of the University of Vinnea, who led the study.
    "To investigate this further we later placed a nut where the pebble had been and started to film. To our astonishment he did not go on searching for a stick but started biting a large splinter out of the aviary beam. He cut it when it was just the appropriate size and shape to serve as a raking tool to obtain the nut.
    "It was already a surprise to see him use a tool, but we certainly did not except him to make one by himself. From that time on, Figaro was successful on obtaining the nut every single time we plaved it there, nearly each time making new tools. On one attempt he used an alternative solution, breaking a side arm off a branch and modifying the leftover piece to the appropriate size for raking."