One of the best aspects of keeping parrots as pets, without a doubt, is that you can teach them all sorts of amazing tricks.
Of course, teaching your parrot to talk is one lesson that people are particularly excited to engage in – but have you ever thought about putting them through their paces on the dancefloor, as well?
If you’re a big fan of cockatoos, with one at home already or plans in place to start a flock of your own soon, dance lessons should actually be quite high on the agenda, given new research revealing that these birds have an impressive repertoire of 30 different dance moves!
Carried out by a team of researchers from Charles Sturt University, the identified moves included headbangs, head shakes, flapping, wings back, sidesteps, body rolls, fluffs, stationary jumps, foot lifts, head figure of eights, head turns, wings back, downward walks and many more!
Even more interestingly (if that’s possible), each species of cockatoo has its own unique top ten most common movements.
Goffin’s cockatoos, for example, like to headbang, lift their feet and move side to side, while sulphur crested cockatoos have their own three movements that they don’t share with other species: semi-circle lows, and semi-circle highs with crest and head foot in sync.
This all sounds very exciting to us here at Johnston & Jeff and we’re sure you feel the same, so with this in mind, here’s a quick guide on:
How to teach your cockatoo to dance
As with any new endeavour, patience is key when it comes to dance classes with parrots… and the first step to take is finding some music he likes! Spin a few records, play your favourite artists – and see what he responds to most.
Once you’ve worked out what his particular tastes are, you can get to work. First of all, simply just start grooving away yourself and see what your bird does. Chances are you’ll find him watching you as you bop away and usually he’ll eventually start to join in, either with a casual head bob or by doing slinky side to side steps on his perch.
If he’s not really getting it, you can up the ante a little by showing him some online videos of other parrots jiving. He’s sure not to want to be left out after that!
What is important is to make sure you pick and choose your training times wisely. Aim to do so when your bird is active. If they’re making a lot of noise, this is a sure sign that they want some attention – so get your dancing shoes on!
Don’t overdo it, however, as you want your bird to have fun and only associate positivity with training… and make sure that you have plenty of delicious parrot bird food and treats close to hand!
It should take them about a week to pick up their new tricks, so just take your time, enjoy the process and before you know it you’ll have your very own feathered twinkle toes!
