A group of cockatoos recently proved their smarts. Researchers at the University of Vienna in Austria set up a tricky task for the birds: Reach a cashew inside a basket at the bottom of a vertical tube using only a pipe cleaner. The cockatoos had to bend the pipe cleaner into a hook to snag the reward. A second test required the birds to straighten a bent pipe cleaner to push a snack out of a horizontal tube. Several cockatoos mastered at least one of the puzzles, and one bird even solved both problems. The results were surprising since cockatoos aren’t known to use tools in the wild.