Palm cockatoo
Palm cockatoo | |
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Palm cockatoo in Lockhart River, Queensland | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Psittaciformes |
Family: | Cacatuidae |
Genus: | Probosciger Kuhl, 1820 |
Species: | P. aterrimus
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Binomial name | |
Probosciger aterrimus (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
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Subspecies | |
P. a. aterrimus [Gmelin 1788] | |
Australian palm cockatoo range (in green) |
The palm cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus), also known as the goliath cockatoo or great black cockatoo, is a large smoky-grey or black
Taxonomy
The palm cockatoo was
The palm cockatoo is a member of the white cockatoo subfamily Cacatuinae.
"Palm cockatoo" has been designated the official name by the
Four subspecies are recognised.[3]
- P. a. stenolophus (van Oort, 1911) – Yapen (Geelvink Bay islands, northwest New Guinea) and north, east New Guinea
- P. a. goliath (Kuhl, 1820) – Raja Ampat Islands (northwest of New Guinea), Bird's Head Peninsula (northwest New Guinea) and west, central, southeast New Guinea
- P. a. aterrimus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – Aru Islands (southwest of New Guinea)
- P. a. macgillivrayi (Mathews, 1912) – south New Guinea and north Cape York Peninsula, northeast Queensland (northeast Australia)
A 2007 genetic study found little support for the above division into subspecies.[17]
Description
The palm cockatoo is 55 to 60 cm (22 to 24 in) in length and weighs 910–1,200 g (2.01–2.65 lb).
The races P. a. goliath and P. a. stenolophus are larger than the
Vocalisation
The vocalizations of palm cockatoos are similar to those of most wild parrots, but they have also been shown to produce a variety of additional syllables in display and exchange with neighbouring individuals. These additional syllables are mainly produced by males and are often combined to form long, complex sequences. In a population in the Iron Range, 30 different syllables were distinguished.[20] The palm cockatoos from the east have different call types from the ones from other areas, due to their long term isolation.[21]
Distribution and habitat
The palm cockatoo is found in rainforests and woodlands of New Guinea and Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. It can still be found near Sorong, West Papua, Indonesia, where it is sometimes seen in trees along the roads.[22]
Behaviour and ecology
It has a unique territorial display where the bird (typically the male) drums with a large (i.e. up to 2.5 cm diameter, 15 cm long) stick or seed pod against a dead bough or tree, creating a loud noise that can be heard up to 100 m away.[23] After drumming, the male occasionally strips the drum tool into small pieces to line the nest.[24] Although this drumming behaviour was discovered over three decades ago (in 1984 by G.A. Wood), the reason why palm cockatoos drum is still a mystery. One reason could be that females can assess the durability of the nesting hollow by the resonance of the drumming. Another possibility could be that males drum to mark their territory against other males.[citation needed] The palm cockatoo is an unusual bird, being an ancient species and one of the few bird species known to use tools.[22]
Flocking
This species normally does not appear in large numbers. They are not known to flock feed like many of the cockatoo species. Usually only one to six individuals are observed feeding together at one time. As with other large birds, both parents care for young, so seeing a breeding pair is not unusual. If these birds do congregate, it will usually happen in open woodland just after sunrise or along the rainforest edge before returning to individual roosts for the night.[25]
Breeding
Palm cockatoos only lay one egg every second year and have one of the lowest breeding success rates reported for any species of parrot.[26] Offsetting this is their very long lifespan. A male commenced breeding at 29 in Taronga Zoo in Sydney, and a female at the London Zoo was 40 when she laid her first egg in 1966. Breeding takes place inside tree hollows that look like standing pipes. Fires play an important role in the destruction and creation of nest hollows. Fires allow the colonisation of microorganisms and termites, which enter the tree and start hollowing out the inside. Cyclones are important in the final stage of nest hollow development.
Anecdotal evidence indicates a palm cockatoo reaching 80 or 90 years of age in an Australian zoo,[26] although the oldest confirmed individual was aged 56 in London Zoo in 2000.[27] Although longevity of captive birds is known, the lifespan of palm cockatoos that live in the wild is still unknown.
Food and feeding
The palm cockatoo often feeds during the early hours of the day on a diet that consists mostly of wild growing
Drumming
A 2023 study by Professor Robert Heinsohn from the Australian National University, has found that palm cockatoos fashion individual musical tools, in the form of wood and seed pods, to drum on trees to mark their territories and attract potential mates. These musical tools are used by the cockatoos to drum out highly personal rhythms and the tools are often highly decorated. [28]
Conservation and status
The palm cockatoo is still relatively common in Cape York, but is threatened there by habitat destruction, particularly due to bauxite mining around Weipa and altered fire regimens elsewhere. Palm cockatoos are hunted in New Guinea. The palm cockatoo is currently evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.[1] It is listed on Appendix I of CITES. In Australia, palm cockatoos were relisted from Near Threatened to Vulnerable on 31 October 2015 (EPBC Act List of Threatened Fauna).
Aviculture
This species is in high demand for the pet trade due to its unusual appearance. In early captive situations, pet owners would either feed dog kibble or generic bird seed mixture, while zoos would give them "monkey biscuits". As their nutritional needs became more apparent over the years, owners have shifted to specially formulated "manufactured diet" pellets along with a wide variety of treats like peanuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, oranges, apples, grapes, pomegranate, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, broccoli, and kale. Many zoos still give them monkey biscuits to broaden their diet.[29]
References
- ^ a b BirdLife International (2023). "Probosciger aterrimus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2023: e.T22684723A221314898. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
- ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Parrots, cockatoos". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ^ "Species profile—Probosciger aterrimus macgillivrayi (palm cockatoo)". Species information. Queensland Government. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ISBN 9780691095639.
- ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1788). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 330.
- ^ Edwards, George (1764). Gleanings of Natural History, Exhibiting Figures of Quadrupeds, Birds, Insects, Plants &c. Vol. 3. London: Printed for the author. p. 229; Plate 316.
- JSTOR 45385020.
- ^ "Collection of 154 coloured drawings of Birds, Mammals, Insects and Plants, painted from the life for J. G. Loten, Dutch Governor of Ceylon, 1752-1757 / by P. C.de Bevere, in Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago, 1754-1757". Natural History Museum, London. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
- ^ Kuhl, Heinrich (1820). "Conspectus Psittacorum". Verhandlungen der Kaiserlichen Leopoldinisch-Carolinische Academie der Naturforscher (in Latin). 10: 1–104 [12].
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ISBN 0-643-06037-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-84-87334-22-1.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1937). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 171.
- PMID 21419232.
- JSTOR 4089461.
- S2CID 84643092.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-691-09251-5.
- ^ (Wood 1984)
- S2CID 55370532.
- S2CID 88696300.
- ^ a b Indonesian Parrot Project Archived 29 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Australian Geographic Archived 2 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- PMID 28782005.
- ^ a b Parrot Tag: Palm Cockatoo Archived 5 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ .
- .
- ^ Sexton-McGrath, Kristy (13 September 2023). "Australian National University researchers find 'master sculptor' in drumming palm cockatoo". Australlian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
- ^ "Nutritional Requirements of Adult Palm Cockatoos" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
Further reading
- Murphy, S.A.; Legge, S.M. (2007). "The gradual loss and episodic creation of Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) nest-trees in a fire- and cyclone-prone habitat". Emu. 107 (1): 1–6. S2CID 84507278.
External links
- Explore Species: Palm Cockatoo at eBird (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)