Cockatoo

? Cockatoos
Moluccan Cockatoo
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Psittaciformes Family: Cacatuidae
Genera
Probosciger Calyptorhynchus Callocephalon Eolophus Cacatua Nymphicus

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 word kakaktua, meaning 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, and their lack of the Dyck texture feather conposition, which gives many parrots their iridescent colours. 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.

Classification

The list below is a traditional classification of the cockatoos. However, Brown & Toft (1999) performed molecular analysis on 15 out of the 18 recognised species in this group and found that

1. The Cockatiel and the Gang-gang Cockatoo group together with the black cockatoos of the genus Calyptorhynhus as a clade, indicating that they should move to the subfamily Calyptorhynchinae, and the subfamily Nymphicinae should deprecated.
2. Major Mitchell's Cockatoo is basal to all other Cacatua species, indicating that its original placement in the monotypic genus Lophocroa is valid.

Species list

• Subfamily Microglossinae
  • Palm Cockatoo, Probosciger aterrimus
• Subfamily Calyptorhynchinae
  • Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus banksii
  • Glossy Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhyncus lathami
  • Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhyncus funereus
  • Short-billed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhyncus latirostris
  • Long-billed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhyncus baudinii
• Subfamily Cacatuinae
  • Gang-gang Cockatoo, Callocephalon fimbriatum
  • Galah, Eolophus roseicapilla
  • Long-billed Corella, Cacatua tenuirostris
  • Western Corella, Cacatua pastinator
  • Little Corella, Cacatua sanguinea
  • Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, Cacatua leadbeateri
  • Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua galerita
  • Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea
    • Citron-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea citroncristata
  • Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Cacatua ophthalmica
  • Moluccan Cockatoo or Salmon-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua moluccensis
  • Umbrella Cockatoo, Cacatua alba
  • Red-vented Cockatoo, Cacatua haematuropygia
  • Goffin's Cockatoo, Cacatua goffini
  • Ducorps' Cockatoo, Cacatua ducorpsii
• Subfamily Nymphicinae
  • Cockatiel, Nymphicus hollandicus