Overview

• Sulphur-crested cockatoos grip and twist foot-operated handles before leaning their body weight to activate public drinking fountains in western Sydney.
• Cameras monitored 24 colour-marked birds over 44 days, recording 525 fountain-use attempts and revealing a 41–52% success rate among roughly 70% of the local flock.
• This fountain-drinking behavior has persisted for at least two years and spreads through social learning as a distinct urban cultural tradition involving all ages and sexes.
• Researchers propose that fountain water may offer better taste, predator safety or social benefits and note that cockatoos queue patiently for up to ten minutes to drink.
• Published in Biology Letters, the study invites citizen scientists to log further cockatoo innovations via the Big City Birds app to map urban wildlife adaptation.