Cockatoos know 30 distinct dance moves
Illustration of the 10 most common recorded dance movements.
Credit: Lubke et al., 2025, PLOS One / CC-BY 4.0
They also analyzed the behavior of six pacatoes of three species at the Wagga Wagga zoo in Australia to test if the music would trigger similar dance behavior in these birds. There were three “treatments”: playing the song “The Nights” by Avicii; Do not play any music; And play a podcast entitled “She’s on the Money” (the podcast had no music).
The results: Dance behavior was present in 10 of the 21 known cacato species. The downward movement was the most common, observed in 50% of birds, followed by the side step (43%), while the movements involving only the wings were the rarest. Several birds have also combined different movements unique to develop their own individual style. Some species have shared similar movements, but the sulfide crest cockatoes had three movements not shared by other species: the low semi-circle, high semi-circle with crest and synchronization of the head.
The CSU team was able to exclude dance as a form of stereotypical behavior, which is quite common in parrots. It would be models of voluntary movement without function or clear objective, executed several times with little or no variation: picking, cries or even self-mutilation. However, the study’s cacatoes showed a considerable variation in their dance movements.
Previous studies have suggested that this type of dance behavior could be linked to the dispute of nuptial parade, because there are similarities. Perhaps all these online dancing birds, in the absence of potential avian comrades, redirect these pulses to their human owners. Or maybe it’s just their way of interacting with their owners. But the authors concluded that their study “somewhat refutes any role of owners in the suspension of dance behavior”.
These types of studies can give an overview of complex cognitive processes in birds, according to the authors. “The similarities with human dance make it difficult to plead against cognitive and emotional processes well developed in parrots, and playing music for parrots can improve their well-being,” said co-author Rafael Freire (CSU). “Additional research would be beneficial to determine if music can trigger dance in captive birds and serve as an environmental enrichment.”
PLOS ONE, 2025. DOI: 10.1371 / Journal.pone.0328487 (About DOI).
