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Are WILD cockatoos smart enough to solve this puzzle?

Maker's Muse
Demos
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this demo2 months2021–2025 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Recommended in cockatoo threads as a fun and remarkable demonstration of the birds' problem-solving ability.

Maker's Muse designs a 3D-printed and laser-cut puzzle box to test whether wild sulphur-crested cockatoos can solve it. He documents how the birds work it out.

“it's really remarkable to watch them figure it out” (HN, 2021)

2 recommendations · 2 citations · Demos

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@ehnto May 2021 Recommends
on HN thread All About Cockatoos (2002)
Read more
My childhood freind had a Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo that would follow him to school and just hang out until he was out for lunch. Sometimes he would find his way into the classroom, he was a super smart bird and knew how to get the windows open on some of the rooms. My mum helps with rescue birds sometimes and now has a Gullah, which for anyone familiar is a pink/white cockatoo very similar to a sulfur-crested cockatoo. He's so smart, knows tonnes of words. songs and situations, and knows that when the cat shows up he can refer to it as "Pus pus pus". The YouTube channel MakersMuse 3D printed some puzzles for wild birds to solve on his porch, it's really remarkable to watch them figure it out: [this video] The Australian Magpie is also extremely intelligent, surprisingly they're not part of the Corvus family but they are very, very similar.
Wild cockatoos solving 3D-printed puzzles.

Citations, criticism and jokes

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