Crafty cockatoos learn to use public drinking fountains
Sulphur-crested cockatoos are waiting in line at public drinking fountains in Sydney to have their daily drinks of water in the latest example of cultural evolution in urban birds
By Chris Simms
4 June 2025
Cockatoos using a drinking fountain in Sydney
Klump et al. 2025
Over 44 days, cockatoos made 525 attempts to use one particularly popular fountain. Of these, 105 attempts were by 17 of the 24 marked birds. This suggests that about 70 per cent of the population of more than 100 birds tried to use the fountain, say the researchers.