It’s never been a secret that the human connection among animals exists. If you’re a bird lover – and you most certainly are – then this is not a secret to you, but rather, a full-blown reality. Nevertheless, science always tries to validate what many of us already know by close observation with specific testing procedures. The more tests undertaken, the more validation that birds are not as far from our own behavioral patterns. For this article, it’s the simple process of dunking bread into a liquid to improve its texture for consumption.
Why Do Birds Dunk Their Food?
In a mid-December publishing of a research paper in the Royal Society science journal, J. S. Zewald, and Alice Auersperg, both from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Austria began to test a theory of foraging innovations with in-house Goffin’s Cockatoos (which are often a bird that is observed due to their extreme intelligence). It has been noted that many animal species, including a wide range of birds, dunk their food in water before eating it. In the Goffin lab at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the pair of scientists noticed that some of the cockatoos were taking their rusk (a twice-baked bread designed to achieve an extra-dried texture) and dunking them into water before eating the dried bread. The researchers set out to enhance some already known indicators of food innovations and brain-size correlations.
The report (here) states that many animals are not known to alter the textures of their food. It is a rare procedure, and so noting that the captive cockatoos were using such behavior became an exciting development to study. Not only is it interesting to see some species in active use of food innovation techniques, but it is also a pathway to understand better the development of the evolution of food preparation that begins in the brain. How does the brain work when a species decides that food could be altered for better enjoyment? This and other questions are under the scope of such studies, particularly this one.
More interesting are other questions that arise. Do the birds dunk to alter the texture for better consumption, or is it also a habit to clean the food before eating it? Have they discovered that dunking a bit of food into salt water (ocean) can add flavor to the morsel? The study also would like to look at the possibility that the birds soak up the food, and use it to transport water to another location, much like a sponge.
Cockatoo Dunkers
Prior to this study, three Goffin’s Cockatoos, Kiwi, Pipin, and Muki, were actively observed in the act of dunking their dry rusk before eating it. For this study, 18 Goffin’s Cockatoos were used for observation with different foods. For societal necessities, some of the birds were allowed the full roam of the aviary, while some were caged during the observations (due to pure societal orneriness). Breakfasts of egg, noodles, potatoes, or cauliflower with fruit and soy yogurt, and lunches of rusk, dried banana chips, dried coconut chips, corn flakes, dried apple pieces, and seeds were used primarily (dinners were not studied).
Of the 18 cockatoos, seven were active in dunking their food. Some interesting thoughts were ruled out (like flavoring, washing, and cleaning intents due to controlled availability). This study was concluded with the belief that the birds merely wanted to soften their food before eating. What was more interesting was that this behavior requires impulse control, a deliberate effort to move and treat food before consumption. It was also determined that it was possibly indicative of a preference for dry versus wet food among all 18 birds. Even so, the birds that dunked their food only did so with the dry rusk, and the banana and coconut chips. The rest of the food was eaten as is.
We enjoy bringing to you looks at current studies undertaken to understand birds (and other creatures) more fully. There are a lot of dots to connect, and science is slowly connecting some of those. The above study is the first of other studies planned to understand parrot foraging innovations behaviors better.