Tempting food traded by birds
A study that mirrors a method previously used with children, has found that parrots will wait to trade a treat for an even better treat.
A number of Goffin's cockatoos were offered various food snack options in order to determine whether they would eat straight away or wait for a better offer.
Every time, the cockatoos would wait for their favourite option – a cashew nut.
During the 70s, a number of children took part in a variation of the study, which involved marshmallows. The children were told that they could either eat it or wait and receive two.
Those children that waited were found to become more successful in later life.
The study showed how important the ability to strategically wait and show patience is to human development – something that can now be said of bird development too.
Alice Auersperg, of the University of Vienna's Department of Cognitive Biology, who led the study, explained that that parrots had it particularly difficult.
"While human infants or primates can hold the initial food in their hands, one should consider that the birds were able to wait, although they had to hold the food in their beaks, directly against their taste organs, while waiting," she said.
The study has been published in the Biology Letters journal.
Click here to view a video of a cockatoo named Muppet demonstrating the findings.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
