Dancing Cockatoos: More Like Ashlee Than Jessica Simpson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3b8xBA19ms
Do cockatoos really dance to the music? Or are they just faking it? I sent last week's post to a few ornithologists and asked what they thought. First to respond was University of Arizona evolutionary biologist John Pepper, who wrote his PhD thesis on the behavioral ecology of glossy black cockatoos:

The question we can't answer by watching these videos is whether the cockatoos are responding to the music, or responding to their owner.

They are intensely social and interactive birds. They are especially interactive with a person they know well. But even as a stranger you can easily elicit this kind of behavior. If you walk into a pet store and interact with any parrot, make eye contact, and talk to it, and then start bobbing your head, chances are good that it will start bobbing its head along with you. Try it!

I suspect that in most cases, while the video is being shot, but outside the picture, the bird's owner is dancing along with the bird, and encouraging it.

Being very social, interactive, and intelligent, they also quickly notice what kind of behavior gets them attention and repeat it. So it would be easy to train a cockatoo to dance without ever consciously trying to.

See Also:

• Dance Dance Cockatoo: Birds Shake the Junk in Their Trunks
• A Few Last Words for Alex the Parrot
• Birds: Honorary Apes, With Feathers