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Parrots found to dunk food in water to change the texture just like humans
Image source, Getty Images
New research has found some parrots dunk their food in liquid just like some humans.
Okay, it's not quite our cookies and milk or biscuits in tea combinations, but researchers say they do it for similar reasons.
Scientists at the University of Vienna observed Goffin's cockatoos dipping hard food into their water bowls which changes the texture and makes it softer to eat.
Do you like to dunk your food to make a soggy snack? Let us know in the comments!
Image source, Getty Images
Researchers noticed some of the cockatoos dropping their food into water bowls before eating it during their lunchtime feed and decided to explore further.
They gave the birds a variety of different foods around a water bowl: rusk (bread that's baked twice), dried pieces of fruit, seeds and bird pellets.
Over the next 12 days, they recorded how many birds dunked their food in water, what food it was, how long the food was dunked for and if it was eaten or not.
Image source, Getty Images
The results of the experiment showed seven out of the 18 parrots decided to dunk and those seven all had personal preferences of how long to dunk for - just like humans and our biccies.
Rusk was the most common food chosen to get soggy - it's usually very hard - and only some of the birds left it in the water long enough for it to go soft and improve the texture.
It's not a behaviour that has been seen in the wild in Goffin's cockatoos though and as only some of the birds did it, the scientists believe it to be "foraging innovation" which means they've improved upon their usual way of finding and eating food.