Vienna study: Goffin cockatoos recognize irreversible functional loss and react with annoyance

In a second phase, the researchers changed the behavior of the apparatus. After a button press, the screen briefly flickered in some trials, and the food reward was subsequently only delivered with a different background pattern. The button therefore continued to work, but no longer in combination with the previously shown background.

"Der Versuch sieht vielleicht kompliziert aus, doch die Idee dahinter ist recht einfach", explains Osuna-Mascaró, one of the cognitive biologists involved. The cockatoos had to learn that the flickering is a signal that the round button no longer works with a particular screen pattern and that no food reward follows.

How the cockatoos reacted to the failure

As the study shows, the birds learned this rule quickly. They then stopped pressing the button with that background and instead mostly chose the continue arrow, while continuing to operate the button with other, still functioning backgrounds. In addition, the animals were able to transfer what they had learned to new, previously unknown background patterns.

The behavioral reactions of the animals to the unexpected failure were, according to the researchers, remarkable. Like humans, the birds often got upset that a thing involuntarily flickers and breaks. They would, for example, screech or raise their crest of feathers, which the researchers describe as a kind of animal "cursing."

"Beeindruckend sei gewesen, wie verschieden die Tiere reagierten, als der Knopf plötzlich versagte", says Eleonora Rovegno, who conducted the tests. For instance, the cockatoo Renki showed strongly aggressive reactions, while the animal Rose, one of the youngest birds, made begging sounds that typically serve to obtain food or attention.

These behaviors, including vocalizations and visible agitation, were however not included in the statistical evaluation. Only the actions on the touchscreen were analyzed—that is, the animals' decision of whether they pressed the button or moved on to the next trial.

Background: The minimal concept of death

The background of the study is the so-called minimal concept of death, a research approach from comparative thanatology. According to this, the understanding of death can be broken down into simpler components, and it is sufficient to recognize a permanent loss of function, without the need for concepts such as mortality, grief, or language. "Das ist der erste Schritt zu einem Todesverständnis", the study states.

The philosopher Susana Monsó, who worked on the investigation together with the cognitive biologists Antonio Osuna-Mascaró and Alice Auersperg, stresses, however, that the results must not be overinterpreted. "Wir sollten daraus nicht folgern, dass die Vögel den Tod verstehen", Monsó cautions. The understanding of death may sound like an all-or-nothing question, but it can be broken down into simpler components, she adds.

Participating researchers

Auersperg is the head of the Goffin Lab at the Messerli Research Institute, where the behavioral peculiarities of these cockatoos have been studied for years. Goffin's cockatoos are known, among other things, for manufacturing tools, transporting entire tool sets, and setting a tool aside as soon as it no longer serves any purpose in the respective context. They were therefore considered exceptionally adaptable problem solvers even before the current study.

The experimental setup with the touchscreen was deliberately chosen so that it can be transferred to other animal species. Touchscreen tasks are well established in cognitive research, from pigeons to primates. The study thus opens up the possibility of testing the same question of recognizing an irreversible functional loss in other species in the future.

What the study cannot prove

The researchers explicitly point out, however, that the work does not demonstrate that the cockatoos understand irreversibility in the human sense. The animals showed that they can learn a rule and apply it to new situations; a true understanding of finality, however, remains unproven.

Overall, the team classifies the finding as a first empirical building block, showing that at least one cognitive prerequisite for an understanding of death may also be present in birds. Further studies would need to clarify whether similar learning performances and reactions also occur in other animal species.

The study is publicly available under the title "Die im Fachjournal Scientific Reports erschienene Studie" with the Digital Object Identifier 10.1038/s41598-026-57007-1. In addition, the researchers have published an explanatory video in English summarizing the experimental setup and the key results.

Significance for animal cognition research

For the public, the study means above all a new perspective on the cognitive abilities of birds. The fact that Goffin cockatoos not only use tools but also show frustration when a familiar mechanism suddenly fails sheds, in the researchers' view, new light on the question of how animals perceive the world around them.

Overall, the work underscores how multifaceted the cognitive achievements of animals can be, even if the findings cannot be readily transferred to other situations or species. The authors see this as a starting point for further research, but not as a basis for far-reaching statements about an awareness of finality in birds.