Cockatoos join humans and chimps as only species that can use a set of tools
By Harry Baker published about 20 hours ago
In a series of new experiments, Goffin's cockatoos were able to use a set of different tools to complete complex tasks. The brainy birds can decide which gadget works best and carry their varied equipment around with them.
A cockatoo named Figaro completes an experimental puzzle using multiple tools during a new study. (Image credit: Osuna-Mascaró et al.)
Cockatoos can combine multiple tools to complete a complex task, a feat scientists previously thought only chimpanzees and humans could do, a new study reveals.
Tool use has been observed in a handful of animals including chimps, gorillas, orangutans, sea otters, dolphins, octopuses and crows, as well as some cockatoos. But in most cases, these animals can only use a single tool to complete simple tasks.
Scientists first discovered that Goffin's cockatoos (Tanimbar corella) could use tools by accident, when captive cockatoos used sticks to reach nuts trapped behind fencing in a laboratory setting. Since then, the brainy birds have been taught to play a rudimentary game of golf, where they use a stick to sweep a ball into a hole.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/cockatoos-join-humans-and-chimps-as-only-species-that-can-use-a-set-of-tools
= new reply since forum marked as read
Don't have the clip at hand, but it was widely dissiminated here and on FB years ago.
I'm afraid it says something quite the opposite about OUR intelligence. Most cockatoo owners or even casual observers have seen them do similar using the objects in their surroundings if the human observers pay attention at all.
I'm glad they did the scientific studies (finally) to fully document, but really, Homo sapiens? Our alien visitors will not be impressed. 
Published: February 10, 2023 11.48pm EST
From pocket knives to smart phones, humans keep inventing ever-more-sophisticated tools. However, the notion that tool use is an exclusively human trait was shattered in the 1960s when Jane Goodall observed our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, retrieving termites from holes with stripped twigs.
Tool use among non-human animals is hotly debated. It’s often thought a big brain is needed to understand the properties of objects, how to finely manipulate them, and how to teach this to other members of a species.
Until recently, humans and chimps stood out among tool-using species. They were considered the only species that used “toolsets”, wherein a collection of different tools is used to achieve a task. They were also thought to be the only animals that carried toolsets, in anticipation of needing them later.
A third species joined the exclusive club of toolset makers in 2021, when scientists in Indonesia saw wild Goffin’s cockatoos using three distinct types of tools to extract seeds from fruit. And in research published this week, researchers have shown Goffin’s cockatoos can also take the next leap of logic, by carrying a set of tools they’ll need for a future task.
Goffin’s cockatoos are endemic to the Tanimbar Islands in Indonesia. Shutterstock
More:
https://theconversation.com/goffins-cockatoo-named-third-species-that-carries-toolsets-around-in-preparation-for-future-tasks-199408