Goffin’s cockatoos use object mass but not balance cues when making object transport decisions

Utilising weight cues can improve the efficiency of foraging behaviours by providing information on nutritional value, material strength, and tool functionality. Attending to weight cues may also facilitate the optimisation of object transport. Though some animals' ability to assess weight cues has been determined, research into whether they can apply weight assessment during practical decision making is limited. In this study, we investigate whether Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) account for relative weight and unequal versus equal weight distribution when making object transport decisions, and whether sensitivity to these cues varies depending on transport mode. We conducted a series of binary choice experiments in which birds could choose to transport one of two identical, non-functional, equally rewarded objects differing only in overall weight (experiment 1) or weight balance (experiment 2) over a short distance. We found that in experiment 1, Goffin's cockatoos preferred to transport light objects over heavy objects and seemed to rely more on weight cues to inform decisions over time, whereas in experiment 2, weight balance cues were ignored. Contrary to our predictions, Goffin's cockatoos did not show increased preference for lighter or more balanced objects when employing higher energy transport modes (flight) compared to lower energy modes (walking). We suggest that this may be due to an insufficient difference in physical effort between transport modes due to the short distance travelled. These findings provide the first evidence of weight cues being considered to optimise object transport in birds.