In the suburbs around Sydney, Australia, a battle between beast and bird is raging.
That has made them particularly interesting for behavioral scientists.
The team took an accounting of 3,283 bins across four suburbs where cockatoos opening bins had previously been recorded.
They write that levels varied between 0% and 50% across the suburbs.
The team were able to show that cockies are not afraid of rubber snakes and happily open those bins.
Intriguingly, the team studied how these protective measures were rolled out across different suburbs.
Another subset of respondents also changed the level of their protection based on the cockies' behavior.
But below, you’ve got the option to see one struggle with the stick.
And will that keep on driving innovation by both beast and bird?
The study is ongoing, and citizen science has been key to revealing this innovation arms race.
Without the aid of survey respondents across Australia, the trash thievery may never have been fully understood.
