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~ Cockatoos ~
A
cockatoo is any of the 21 bird species belonging to the family Cacatuidae.
Along with the Psittacidae family (the true parrots), they make up the order
Psittaciformes. The name cockatoo originated from the Malay name for these
birds, kakaktua, which translates literally as older sister (from kakak,
"sister," and tua, "old").
Cockatoos share many features with other parrots including the characteristic
curved beak shape and a zygodactyl foot, with two forward toes and two
backwards toes. They differ, however in a number of characteristics, including
the often spectacular movable headcrest, the presence of a gall bladder and
some other anatomical details, and their lack of the Dyck texture feather
composition which causes the bright blues and greens seen in true parrots.
Cockatoo species are also, on average, larger than the true parrots (however,
the cockatiel is a small cockatoo and the very large parrots include the
Hyacinth Macaw by length and the Kakapo by weight.)
Cockatoos have a much more restricted range than the true parrots, occurring
naturally only in Australia and nearby islands. Eleven of the 21 species exist
in the wild only in Australia, while seven species occur in Indonesia, New
Guinea, and other south Pacific islands. Three species occur in both New
Guinea and Australia.
All of
the species of cockatoo are protected by the CITES international agreement,
which makes the trade of wild-caught specimens of endangered or vulnerable
species illegal.
The following cockatoo species are classified as endangered species:
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Goffin's cockatoo, Cacatua goffini
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Red-vented Cockatoo, Cacatua haematuropygia
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Moluccan Cockatoo, Cacatua moluccensis
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Yellow-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea
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includes the subspecies, Citron-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea
citrinocristata
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Palm
Cockatoo, Probosciger aterrimus
All of
the other cockatoo species are classified at vulnerable.
This article is licensed under
the GNU Free
Documentation License. It uses material from
Wikipedia.
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