Wildlife

Bird Bins

The new ability of sulfur-crested cockatoos to open trash bins in search of food appears to be spreading to more cities across southeastern Australia because the birds are copying each other’s behavior. The complicated process was first observed in 2018 and has since spread around metropolitan Sydney. It has been seen by citizen observers and researchers alike in 44 suburbs, where the birds are causing a growing mess by flinging out the rubbish they don’t want to eat. The birds have learned to grab a bin lid with their beaks, pry it open, then shuffle far enough along the edge to cause the lid to fall backward, revealing the tasty trash.

Primate vs Primate

Deadly unprovoked attacks by chimpanzees on gorillas have for the first time been observed in the West Africa nation of Gabon. Researchers at Loango National Park say two dozen chimps went after five gorillas in December 2019. An infant separated from its mother didn’t survive the assault.

Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists say more research is needed to determine what is behind the new lethal behavior. ”At first, we only noticed screams of chimpanzees and thought we were observing a typical encounter between individuals of neighbouring chimpanzee communities,” author Lara M. Southern said in a statement. “But then, we heard chest beats, a display characteristic for gorillas, and realized that the chimpanzees had encountered a group of five gorillas.”

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