麻豆淫院

Researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna are reporting that Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) engage in food flavoring behavior by dunking food into soy yogurt. Experimentally controlled tests have confirmed that the birds selectively dipped food in flavored yogurt rather than neutral alternatives, ruling out alternative explanations such as soaking or cleaning.

Dunking behavior in non-human animals is considered a foraging innovation. It is typically associated with softening dry food, cleaning, flavoring, drowning prey, or transporting liquid.

Prior research has documented various species engaging in dunking, though reports on food flavoring behavior are rare.

Previously, members of the same group of cockatoos exhibited innovative dunking behavior to soak dry food.

The observations that led to the study titled "Innovative Flavoring Behavior in Goffin's Cockatoos," in Current Biology, began when two cockatoos were seen dunking cooked potato pieces into blueberry-flavored soy yogurt.

To systematically investigate this behavior, researchers conducted 14 30-minute observations during breakfast sessions. Eighteen cockatoos were given access to a food bowl containing potatoes or noodles, along with three dunking mediums: freshwater, blueberry-flavored soy yogurt, and neutral soy yogurt.

Nine out of 18 cockatoos engaged in dunking, preferring noodles over potatoes (an average of 12 times per bird vs. 6 times per bird).

Statistical analysis showed that food was dunked in blueberry yogurt over two times more often than neutral yogurt, while no food was dunked in water. The birds also preferred directly eating blueberry yogurt over the neutral variety.

To rule out alternative explanations for the behavior, researchers tested whether dunking functioned as soaking, cleaning, food transport, or tool use. Cockatoos left food in yogurt for an average of 3.2 seconds, significantly shorter than the 22.9 seconds previously observed for water-soaking behavior.

The absence of dunking in water, combined with eating the food with yogurt rather than licking it off, supported the interpretation that dunking was intended for flavoring. A separate test for color preference between yogurts found no significant difference in selection, indicating that dunking choices were based on flavor rather than visual cues.

Food preference testing further revealed that the birds preferred the combination of noodles and blueberry yogurt over noodles or yogurt alone. The potatoes were acceptable without flavoring.

This study provides the first experimental evidence of food flavoring behavior outside the primate lineage. While the cognitive mechanisms behind the innovation remain unclear, researchers note that Goffin's cockatoos demonstrate high cognitive abilities, including problem-solving and sequential planning.

Only two individuals had participated in both the earlier rusk-soaking study and the current yogurt-dunking behavior, suggesting that the two innovations may be separate. Further investigation into the spread of this behavior within the group may provide insights into how such innovations emerge and persist.

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