Think You Can Dance? Check Out These Cockatoos. Research Finds the Parrots Have 30 Moves in Their Repertoire
A new study of the birds in online videos and at an Australian zoo revealed 17 dance moves never before documented by scientists
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Scrolling through TikTok, you might have come across videos of dancing cockatoos and thought, “it looks like that bird is having fun,” or maybe, “I can dance better than that.” But in a new study, scientists broke down the dancing parrots’ steps and found that not only do the cockatoos seem to be having a good time, they probably have more moves in their repertoire than most of us do.
“Dance behavior is more varied and complex than previously thought,” Natasha Lubke, an animal scientist at Charles Sturt University in Australia and lead author of the paper published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, says in a statement. The finding “supports the anecdotal belief that these parrots can experience pleasure and enjoy dancing.”
Fun fact: Cockatoo intelligence
Cockatoos are known for being clever. In Australia, some of these wild birds have learned to operate drinking fountains and raid trash bins. In a lab, cockatoos have dipped food in water, perhaps to change its texture.
Dancing cockatoos have been studied scientifically since at least 2009, when a group of researchers led by Aniruddh Patel, a cognitive psychologist now at Tufts University, observed Snowball, a cockatoo known for dancing to the Backstreet Boys. Now, the new study has expanded scientists’ knowledge of cockatoo dance by analyzing 45 online videos and six animals at the Wagga Wagga Zoo in New South Wales, Australia. They identified 30 unique cockatoo dance moves, each performed by at least two birds. Seventeen of these had never been documented by scientists.
The most common moves were head motions, as study senior author Rafael Freire, an animal behaviorist at Charles Sturt University, writes in the Conversation. In particular, the cockatoos favored the downward bob, which appeared in 50 percent of observed dances. It’s a gentler version of the headbang, which itself appeared in 19.6 percent. From their analysis, they found that at least ten of the 21 cockatoo species dance.
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At the zoo, the researchers tested playing cockatoos either music, a personal finance podcast or no noise to see what sparked a dance. They observed the cockatoos dancing at similar rates under each of these conditions. But the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Coco Veldkamp reports that one pink cockatoo seemed particularly inspired by the track “The Nights” by Avicii, performing 257 moves during a 20-minute jam session in which the song played on loop.
Patel, the scientist who studied Snowball, tells New Scientist’s Chris Simms that the new study means humans aren’t alone as a dancing species. “These findings are exciting, because they demonstrate that flexible and creative dancing to music is not uniquely human,” he says.
Some of the moves appeared similar to courtship displays. But why cockatoos dance in environments without potential mates to impress is an open question. One idea, Freire writes in the Conversation, is that they are repurposing courtship displays to connect with their human companions. It could also be that the cockatoos are imitating what they see humans doing. Another explanation, though, is that the birds are just playing.
“I don’t believe that they dance based on imitation,” Lubke tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “That rules out the theory they’re just dancing because people are dancing. I think they’re definitely dancing, and it appears to be a form of play behavior—they’re doing it because they’re in a positive welfare state.”
If you’re considering adding a parrot to your home to pump up your dance parties, the researchers advise making sure you can satisfy all their other physical and social requirements first. “Before deciding to care for a parrot, carefully consider if you can meet their complex needs and are able to provide for their long-term care,” Lubke says in the statement.