Cockatoos Showcase an Impressive Variety of Dance Moves

The head nods, side-to-side movements, and body rolls are just a few of the over 30 dance moves showcased by these remarkable cockatoos.

Since gaining online fame in 2009, the sulfur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) has become an Internet dance sensation. In 2019, Aniruddh Patel from Tufts University and his team revealed that Snowball, a well-known dancing cockatoo, created 14 unique dance moves and even mixed some of them together.

To explore how prevalent this behavior is, Natasha Love and her research team from Charles Sturt University in Australia examined 45 videos of dancing cockatoos shared on social media. They discovered five different species: the sulfur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua alba), the umbrella cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), Tanimbar cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana), and a lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sanguinea).

The researchers identified 30 distinct dance moves, each performed by at least two birds. Of these, 17 had not been previously documented in scientific literature. Interestingly, closely related species exhibited varying styles in their dance.

Love and her team also conducted experiments on two pink cockatoos (Lophochroa leadbeateri) and two galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla) at the Wagga Wagga Zoo and Aviary in Australia.

They played various music tracks for the birds—such as “Wake Me Up” by Avicii, a financial podcast “She’s On The Money”, and white noise—and observed that the birds engaged in their dance moves regardless of the type of audio played.

This suggests that cockatoos are not merely mimicking human actions. “It’s uncertain why they dance, but it’s plausible they are expressing themselves in playful ways,” says Love.

Many of the observed dance moves correspond to displays seen during wild parrot courtship, indicating that the ability to dance may have roots in mating behavior, according to Love.

Video evidence leads her and her colleagues to conclude that dancing behavior can be found in at least 10 of the 21 known cockatoo species.

“Snowball developed his dance moves without formal instruction, yet it remains unclear how much of these behaviors are influenced by genetic factors. Recent research indicates that the similarity of movements among different parrots’ dances may not be as predictable,” Patel remarks. “These findings are exhilarating as they show that the capacity for flexible and creative dancing to music is not a trait exclusive to humans.”

So, which cockatoo species stands out as the best dancer? “From our zoo observations, Major Mitchell’s cockatoos seemed to display more enthusiasm and energy in their dances compared to other species,” Love notes.

She emphasizes that further studies are necessary to discern whether birds actually enjoy dancing and if encouraging this behavior can enhance the well-being of domesticated parrots.