RESEARCHERS from Oxford University and the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna have shown that Goffin’s cockatoos can make and use elongated tools.

The Goffin’s cockatoo is from Indonesia and one bird has displayed the ability to make tools by biting long splinters out of the wooden beams of its cage, which he then used to rake pieces of food that were otherwise out of reach.

Three others have since achieved the same feat, showing that making tools is within the capacity of the species.

To test if the birds were aiming to make elongated tools that could bridge a particular distance, researchers gave them the problem of reaching a piece of food placed a few centimetres beyond a circular hole in the transparent wall of a box.

They were given four different materials they could use - larch wood, leafy beech twigs, cardboard, and beeswax.

Dr Alice Auersperg, who heads the Goffin Laboratory in the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, said: "While none of the birds succeeded in making tools out of beeswax, we found that at least some of them could make suitable tools from the three remaining materials."

Co-author Professor Alex Kacelnik, from Oxford University's Department of Zoology, added: "Studying tool-making in species like the Goffin’s cockatoo, which does not make tools naturally, is especially revealing, as these birds cannot do it by following pre-programmed instructions evolved to solve this specific problem.

"These cockatoos, like other parrots, offer wonderful research opportunities - their intelligence is flexible and powerful."