🦘 Australia & Oceania

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Image: Wikipedia

AvesHerbivore🌳 Forest, Woodland, Urban parks, Farmland

Meet the Animal

Sulphur-crested cockatoos are some of Australia's most intelligent, noisy, and charismatic birds! Their brilliant yellow crest fans out dramatically when they're excited or alarmed. These cheeky parrots can live up to 70 years, learn to talk, and have been shown to dance rhythmically to music - they genuinely feel the beat!

Where in the World

Continent: Australia & Oceania

Countries:

🚩 Australia (eastern and northern)🚩 Papua New Guinea🚩 introduced to New Zealand and Indonesia

Habitat

Forest, Woodland, Urban parks, Farmland

Diet

Herbivore

Seedsnutsrootsberriesleaf budsflowersinsects occasionally

Classification

  1. Kingdom:Animalia
  2. Class:Aves
  3. Order:Psittaciformes
  4. Family:Cacatuidae
  5. Common:Bird / Parrot

Appearance

Brilliant white plumage with a distinctive bright yellow crest that fans out when excited. Yellow under the wings and tail. Powerful grey-black bill. Loud, raucous personality.

Size: 0.8–1 kg; about 50 cm long

Young Ones

Called Chick

Pairs nest in large tree hollows and raise 2–3 chicks together. Both parents share incubation and feeding. Chicks stay with parents for up to 12 months.

Behaviour

Highly intelligent with capacity to mimic speech and sounds. Notoriously loud and destructive if bored. Can live up to 70 years in captivity. Gather in enormous noisy flocks. Dance and move rhythmically to music.

🎉 Fun Facts

🎵 Sulphur-crested cockatoos can genuinely dance in time to music.

📅 They can live up to 70 years - as long as a human!

🗣️ They can learn to mimic human speech and household sounds.

🎭 Their yellow crest fans out to signal mood.

🔊 Their screeching call can be heard over a kilometre away.