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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Some wild sulphur-crested cockatoos in Sydney have learned to open household rubbish bins for food scraps, and the behavior has spread between neighborhoods in a pattern consistent with social learning. Researchers call it a “putative” cultural adaptation: a behavior that appears to be learned and shared, not proof that every cockatoo raids bins or that the behavior is exclusively learned.
What the cockatoos learned
The birds are sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) living in Sydney’s urban environment. The behavior is a sequence of actions that lets a bird lift a household waste-bin lid and reach food scraps inside. It is more than simply finding food near people: the bird must work out how to manipulate a lid, and different birds have been observed using different opening styles.
In a 2021 study in Science, researchers combined community-science reports with spatial network analysis and 160 direct observations. They mapped the behavior’s spread from three Sydney suburbs to 44 and found site-specific differences in how birds opened bins. The researchers described the result as a putative cultural adaptation, reflecting evidence consistent with social learning rather than proving that every bird copied another directly. Read the study abstract in Science.
How bin-opening can count as culture
In animal behavior, culture does not require language, art, or human-like traditions. The term can describe behavior that individuals learn socially and that becomes established within a group, sometimes with local variation. For the Sydney cockatoos, the relevant evidence is the behavior’s geographic spread, the observed differences in opening styles between sites, and reports of birds joining in after another bird opened a bin.
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That is why the careful wording matters. The study supports social learning as an explanation for the spread; it does not establish that every cockatoo raids bins, that every opener learned from a particular bird, or that innate tendencies play no role. The claim is about a shared behavior that appears to spread and vary locally—not a single uniform technique used by the whole species.
What researchers and observers found
The behavior spread between suburbs
The 2021 study’s map showed bin-opening reports across 44 Sydney suburbs, up from three suburbs at the behavior’s earlier mapped stage. Community reports helped researchers trace where and when people saw the behavior, while spatial analysis helped assess whether the pattern was consistent with social transmission. The Australian Museum says the researchers’ online survey began in 2018 and ran for two years. Its account describes a late-2018 reinvention in northern Sydney followed by copying in nearby districts; that origin detail is the museum’s summary of the study, rather than a separately established origin story. See the Australian Museum’s explanation of the study.
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Not every bird was an opener
The Australian Museum reports that researchers paint-marked about 500 cockatoos at three hotspots to identify individuals; around ten percent of those marked birds opened bins. This is an approximate result for marked birds at selected locations, not a citywide estimate of how many cockatoos raid bins. The museum also reports that most of the observed openers were male and that some other birds waited to feed after an opener had accessed the bin.
Neighborhoods had different techniques
Researchers made 160 direct observations to examine individual styles and differences between sites. In the museum’s account, lead author Dr Barbara Klump described birds using different techniques in different suburbs and said this suggested learning by observing others. Local variation gives the story a useful detail: a behavior can be shared across a population without every group performing it in exactly the same way.
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Social learning extends beyond rubbish bins
In May 2026, the Australian National University (ANU) reported results from a separate field experiment on food preferences involving more than 700 wild cockatoos in Sydney. According to the university’s summary, researchers trained four birds to eat colorful almonds at stations near five roost sites. Hundreds of cockatoos adopted the food within ten days, and the new preference spread only in places where trained birds were present. ANU also said social-network connections predicted transmission and that different almond-opening techniques spread through social groups. These details are reported here as ANU’s summary of the experiment, not as an independent review of its full methods or statistics. Read ANU’s account of the food-learning experiment.
The experiment broadens the picture: the bin behavior is one example of social transmission, not the only one reported for Sydney cockatoos. As ANU researcher Dr Lucy Aplin put it, “It’s not just about being in the same place — it’s about who you associate with.” Lead researcher Dr Julia Penndorf called the spread of almond-opening techniques “a clear example of culture emerging in the wild”; that is her interpretation of the experiment’s findings.
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Why the behavior can frustrate residents
A cockatoo that reaches food scraps in a household bin can make a mess, and residents have developed various ways to protect bins. Researchers are investigating where and when birds can overcome those protections, using observation, experiments, spatial mapping, citizen science, and fieldwork around North Wollongong and South Sydney. ANU describes a possible interspecies innovation arms race as a question for that work, not a proven outcome. A 2022 correspondence likewise frames socially learned bin-raiding and resident countermeasures as a potential arms race. The available evidence does not establish which protections work best, how often birds defeat them, or which side is gaining ground. Learn about ANU’s research on cockatoos and bin protection; Read the 2022 correspondence abstract.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What this says about urban wildlife
Sydney’s bin-opening cockatoos show how a flexible foraging behavior can move through a city’s social landscape. A bird’s innovation may become visible to others, spread between neighborhoods, and take on local forms. The research supports that interpretation while leaving important boundaries intact: not every cockatoo opens bins, the observed prevalence among marked birds at three hotspots is not a citywide rate, and the contest between birds and bin protection remains under investigation.
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