Cockatoos: Take A 15 minute Travel To Australia And Quickly Discover Everything

Australia is only one of the locations that cockatoos are native to. They also come from across South Pacific including Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, New Zealand and other locations. The attributes of the Australian cockatoos are little or no different than those which come from other parts of the world.

These parrots are very social, cuddly, loving parrots when obtained as hand-fed babies or as fully tamed parrots. They are so sweet natured that they aren't as difficult to tame as some of the other parrots.

All cockatoos create feather dust. This is something that is common to cockatoos and cockatiels. A healthy cockatoo will have a dull, rather than shiny, beak because of the feather dust. This dust gives the feathers their soft, silky feel.

Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease has been identified in wild cockatoos living in Australia. To learn more about this disease, see the article on PBFD. Should your cockatoos begin to grow misshapen feathers or stop producing feather dust resulting in a shiny beak, you should immediately see a qualified avian vet.

Cockatoos, especially the largest species, are quite long lived in captivity. Some have been documented to have lived over 100 years. In the wild, however, their life expectancy is not very long due to predators and farmers who kill them as agricultural pests. Cockatoos are voracious eaters and a flock and strip a grain field in little time at all.

Cockatoos, when bonded to humans, can be a bit neurotic because they are such dependent parrots. They want attention all the time and if they do not get the attention desired frequently become feather pluckers. It is a good practice, if you plan to obtain a cockatoo, to pay only as much attention to the parrot from day-one as you can realistically expect to give the parrot every single day of its long life. New, hand-fed baby cockatoos are often obtained and, due to the thrill of the new baby, doted on by its "parrot parents" and come to expect that full-time attention. A few days, weeks or months later, the humans tire of the parrot or get busy with other things and the poor cockatoo feels abandoned and anxious. Cockatoos will mutilate themselves more frequently than other species because of this anxiety.

One of the attributes of cockatoos is the beautiful crests on their heads. There are 18 species of cockatoos with 37 subspecies around the world. These species fall into three major categories: white, pink and black cockatoos.

Some of the common white cockatoos are the bare-eyed or corella, blue eyes, ducorps, goffin, red vented, slender bill, greater, medium and lesser sulfur crested and umbrella.

Among the pink cockatoos are the amazingly gorgeous Major Mitchell's which is also know as the Leadbeater's, the Moluccans or salmon crested and rose breasted which are also known as galahs.

The black cockatoos include the gang gang, palm and black cockatoos. These parrots are seldom kept as pets and are endangered. They are sweet cockatoos and even with the black plumage, they are quite beautiful

Cockatoos are not known for their speaking ability, however many learn quite a few words. They tend to speak in soft but garbled voices. They can however scream quite loudly. You'll know something has occurred is a cockatoos screams near your ear; your ear may ring for several minutes.

Cockatoos need lots of interesting toys, especially puzzle toys and chew toys to keep them occupied in their cages and to prevent boredom. Interesting foods with different textures also help prevent boredom.

Cockatoos have large beaks that are capable of removing a finger is the parrot so desires. Therefore, be extremely cautious about allowing children around these parrots. Some of the bonded, hand-fed parrots love children, but never allow a child to interact with the parrot without supervision.

Cockatoos, because they are curious and very intelligent, love to perform. They will dance, bobbing their crests and heads up and down. The easily learn to wave or shake hands and learn simple tricks like roller skating or dropping coins in a bank.

Cockatoo owners should choose someone to be placed in their will to give the parrot a loving home later in the parrots' life. Anyone who obtains a cockatoos when they are adults will, with good care and no accidents, probably be outlived by the cockatoos. Be certain that someone in your family or a close friend is willing to take on this task.