Tool use was once thought to be one of the defining features of
humans, but examples of it were eventually observed in primates
and other mammals. But the biggest surprise came when birds were
observed using tools in the wild. After all, birds are the only
surviving dinosaurs, and mammals and dinosaurs hadn't shared a
common ancestor for hundreds of millions of years. In the wild,
tool use has been limited to the corvids (crows and jays), which
show a variety of other complex behaviors—they'll remember your
face and recognize the passing of their dead. Parrots, in
contrast, have mostly been noted for their linguistic skills,
and there has only been very limited evidence that they use
anything resembling a tool in the wild (primarily, they seem to
use external objects to position nuts while feeding). But a
captive cockatoo has now been observed using multiple steps to
process a tool, behavior that appears to be completely
spontaneous. And it has never been seen in this species in the
wild. The bird in question