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A decade ago, in 2005, I was in Venice for my sixtieth birthday. It was a very pleasant evening involving an excellent restaurant and an operatic recital to follow. This trip we'd be in Italy a bit earlier as I'd intended to spend my next significant birthday in Berlin.
The trip started out as planned. A week in London then a flight to Sicily for a few days followed by the overnight boat to Napoli (Naples). I particularly wanted to visit Pompeii because way back in 1975 my original attempt to see it was thwarted by a series of mishaps, that to avoid distracting from the present tale I won't go into.
A couple of days ago a story about sulphur-crested cockatoos went semi-viral, probably in an attempt to lift spirits during Sydney's new Covid-19 lock-down. It appears that some smart cocky worked out how to open wheelie-bin lids. That's not a surprise - see below. What is surprising is that others are copying him and the practice is spreading outwards so that it can be mapped in a growing circle of awareness. The cockies are also choosing the red (household rubbish) bins that may contain food, disregarding yellow (cans and bottles); blue (paper and cardboard) and green bins (garden clippings). Yet, now they have also been observed checking-out other potentially food containing bins.
One has even been observed re-closing the lid - presumably to prevent other birds getting to the food.
Back in the 1950's I was given a pet sulphur-crested cockatoo we named Einstein. I was in primary school and I didn't yet know who Einstein was. My father suggested the name - explaining that Einstein was 'a wise old bird'.
(I am; you are; they are)
As far as we know humans are the only species on Earth that asks this question. And we have apparently been asking it for a good part of the last 100,000 years.