Animals Goffin's cockatoos flavor their food with yogurt
Goffin's cockatoos season their food, according to a new study. A research team from Austria observed how some birds dipped whole wheat pasta, which they get twice a week as a side dish with their breakfast, into blueberry soy yogurt.
11.02.2025, 13:22
SDA
To investigate this in more detail, the parrots were offered a tasteless yogurt in addition to blueberry soy yogurt. This was only rarely used, as the researchers described in the study published in the journal "Current Biology". Carrots and cauliflower were therefore never dipped in yoghurt, and potatoes were also used much less frequently than pasta.
According to the researchers, the fact that the cockatoos only dipped specific foods into the yoghurt shows that the behavior is not solely intended to increase the nutritional value of the food with the sweet yoghurt. Instead, they suspect that they particularly like the flavor combination of pasta with blueberry soy yogurt.
Rusks are also dipped
Biologist Alice Auersperg from the University of Vienna and her team have been studying Goffin's cockatoos for years.
Most recently, the researchers in the Goffin Lab led by Auersperg observed how some birds carried pieces of rusk, which are part of their food ration, to water containers and soaked them there for some time before eating them. Based on their observations, Auersperg's team came to the conclusion that the texture of the rusks was altered by the soaking process.
