Lucy Aplin
Crafty cockatoos master dumpster diving and teach each other
A few years ago, a Sydney scientist noticed a sulfur-crested cockatoo opening his trash bin. Not every resident would be thrilled, but ornithologist Richard Major was impressed by the ingenuity.
It's quite a feat for a bird to grasp a bin lid with its beak, pry it open, then shuffle far enough along the bin's edge that the lid falls backward, revealing edible trash treasures inside.