Pink cockatoo

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Major Mitchell's cockatoo
)

Pink cockatoo
Pink cockatoo with its crest raised in New South Wales, Australia

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Cacatuidae
Genus: Cacatua
Subgenus: Lophochroa
Bonaparte, 1857
Species:
C. leadbeateri
Binomial name
Cacatua leadbeateri
(Vigors, 1831)
Subspecies

C. (L.). l. leadbeateri  (Vigors, 1831)
C. (L.). l. mollis  (Mathews, 1912)

Pink cockatoo range (in red)
Synonyms[2]

Plyctolophus leadbeateri Vigors, 1831
Plyctolophus erythropterus Swainson, 1837
Lophochroa leadbeateri

The pink cockatoo (Cacatua leadbeateri), also known as Major Mitchell's cockatoo or Leadbeater's cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo that inhabits arid and semi-arid inland areas across Australia, with the exception of the north east.[3][4][5]

Taxonomy and naming

Irish naturalist

type specimen.[7] Edward Lear painted it in his 1832 work Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots.[8] Citing Lear, William Swainson gave it the name Plyctolophus erythropterus.[9]

The pink cockatoo is more closely related to Cacatua than is the

leucistic version of that species. Another indication of the early divergence of this species from the "white" cockatoo lineage is the presence of features found otherwise only in corellas, such as its plaintive yodeling cry, as well as others which are unique to pink and the true white cockatoos, for example the large crest and rounded wing shape.[10]

In 2023, this species was reclassified into the genus Cacatua by the International Ornithological Congress; although it represents a very basal member of the clade, it shares close morphological, behavioural, and vocal features to other members of the genus. Due to this, the former genus Lophochroa may be better considered a monotypic subgenus of Cacatua.[10][11][12]

Prior to 2023, "Major Mitchell's cockatoo" was designated the official name for this species by the

Pitjantjatjara term is kakalyalya.[16] Names recorded from South Australia include kukkalulla (Kokatha dialect of Western Desert language), nkuna and ungkuna (Arrernte), yangkunnu (Barngarla), and yangwina (Wirangu),[17] and yel-le-lek (from the Wimmera), and cal-drin-ga (from the lower Murray).[18]

BirdLife Australia officially renamed Major Mitchell's cockatoo back to pink cockatoo in 2023, due to Mitchell's involvement in the massacre of Aboriginal people at Mount Dispersion and a general trend to make species names more culturally inclusive.[4]

Description

Adult perched on a tree in Melbourne Zoo

The pink cockatoo has a soft-textured white and salmon-pink plumage and large, bright red and yellow crest.[19] Its former name referenced Major Thomas Mitchell, who wrote, "Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region."[20] Pink cockatoo females and males are almost identical. The males are usually bigger. The female has a broader yellow stripe on the crest and develop a red eye when mature.[21]

Reproduction and lifespan

The bird reaches sexual maturity around 3–4 years old. The oldest recorded pink cockatoo died at 83 years old.[22]

Distribution and habitat

In contrast to those of the galah, populations of pink cockatoos have declined rather than increased as a result of man-made changes to the arid interior of Australia. Where galahs readily occupy cleared and part-cleared land, pink cockatoos require extensive woodlands, particularly favouring conifers (Callitris spp.), sheoak (Allocasuarina spp.) and eucalypts. Unlike other cockatoos, pink cockatoo pairs will not nest close to one another, so they cannot tolerate fragmented, partly cleared habitats, and their range is contracting.

In

the Mallee region of Victoria where the galah and pink cockatoo can be found to be nesting in the same area, the two species have interbred and produced hybridised offspring occasionally.[23]

The pink cockatoo is usually found in pairs or small groups, and feeds both on the ground and in trees.[5]

Conservation status

Australia

The pink cockatoo is listed as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.[24]

Victoria

Aviculture

"

Brookfield Zoo near Chicago
from the time the zoo opened in 1934 until his death on 27 August 2016. Cookie was 83 years old and he had been retired from public display since 2009, due to ill health prior to his death.

Gallery

  • "Plyctolophus leadbeateri, Leadbeater's Cockatoo" in Lear's influential 1832 monograph.
    "Plyctolophus leadbeateri, Leadbeater's Cockatoo" in Lear's influential 1832 monograph.
  • Cookie, a cockatoo that lived to be 83 years old, housed in the Brookfield Zoo[28]
    Cookie, a cockatoo that lived to be 83 years old, housed in the Brookfield Zoo[28]
  • In flight
    In flight

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22684767A131914793.en
    . Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  2. ^ Australian Biological Resources Study (29 February 2012). "Subspecies Lophochroa leadbeateri leadbeateri (Vigors, 1831)". Australian Faunal Directory. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Government. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Master Lists – IOC World Bird List". worldbirdnames.org. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b Stafford, Andrew (16 September 2023). "What's in a name? The renaming of the pink cockatoo is no small thing in Australia's violent history". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1400836208
    .
  6. ^ Vigors, Nicholas Aylward (1831). "April 26, 1831". Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London. 1–2: 61. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  7. ^
    ISBN 9780643104709
    .
  8. ^ a b Lear, Edward (1832). Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots. London: Self. p. Pl. 5. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  9. ^ Swainson, William John (1837). On the Natural History and Classification of Birds. Vol. 2. London: Longman. p. 302. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  10. ^
    Auk
    116(1): 141–157.
  11. ^ Les Christidis & Walter E Boles (2008) Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds, CSIRO Publishing
  12. ^ "Taxonomic Updates – IOC World Bird List". www.worldbirdnames.org. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  13. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2021). "Parrots & cockatoos". World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Archived from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  14. ^ Checklist Committee, Royal Australasian Ornithologist's Union (1926). Official checklist of the birds of Australia compiled by the Checklist Committee, Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union ; with appendix, scientific names—notes and pronunciation. Melbourne: H.J. Green, Govt. Printer. p. 45. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  15. ^ Gould, John (1848). The Birds of Australia. Volume 6. London: Printed by R. and J. E. Taylor; pub. by the author, 1840–1848. pp. Pl. 2, et seq. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  16. ISBN 0-949659-64-9
    .
  17. ^ Condon, H.T. (1955). "Aboriginal bird names – South Australia Part One" (PDF). South Australian Ornithologist. 21 (6–7): 74–88. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  18. ^ Halley, Jacob John (1871). A monograph of the Psittacidae, or parrot family of Australia. Melbourne: Self. p. 7. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  19. ISBN 9781400846825
    .
  20. ^ John Gould (1865). Handbook to The Birds of Australia, Volume 2.
  21. ^ Major Mitchell's Cockatoo Handbook of the Birds of the World
  22. ^ "Cacatua leadbeateri". The Moirai – Aging Research. 20 October 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  23. ISSN 1036-7810
  24. ^ "Lophochroa leadbeateri leadbeateri — Major Mitchell's Cockatoo (eastern), Eastern Major Mitchell's Cockatoo". Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  25. ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
  26. ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
  27. ^ DELWP (2013), Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria: 2013 (PDF), Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2021, retrieved 30 June 2019
  28. ^ "Cookie Cockatoo "Retires"". Chicago Zoological Society. 9 October 2009. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2022.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pink cockatoo.
Wikispecies has information related to Lophocroa leadbeateri.
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