Twenty-two species of crested parrots from the Philippines and eastern Indonesia to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia. They are mostly white, grey or black, larger than most parrots, and very long-lived.
Quick answers
What is it?Bird
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Commonly
Popular pets, but they can be difficult ones, and trapping for the pet trade has threatened some species.
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAustralia, Asia, New Guinea
ColoursWhite, Yellow, Black
SizeMedium
Legs2
Covered inFeathers
Lives inflocks
Lives for40–70 years
Can fly
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, eastern Indonesia and the Philippines.
- What it eats
- Seeds, tubers, corms, fruit, flowers and insects.
Did you know
Can outlive its owner, and wild ones have learned to open household wheelie bins.
In Sydney, cockatoos learned from each other to flip open garbage bins, and the trick spread suburb by suburb.
The cockatiel is the smallest cockatoo and by far the most common in captivity.
Often confused with
- Cockatiel
The cockatiel is the smallest cockatoo, 30–33 cm long, and unlike most cockatoos its tail makes up about half its length.
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