Cacatuidae

A cockatoo is any of the 21 parrot species belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea (true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up the order Psittaciformes. The family has a mainly Australasian distribution, ranging from the Philippines and the eastern Indonesian islands of Wallacea to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia. Cockatoos are recognisable by the prominent crests and curved bills. Their plumage is generally less colourful than that of other parrots, being mainly white, grey or black and often with coloured features in the crest, cheeks or tail. On average they are larger than other parrots; however, the cockatiel, the smallest cockatoo species, is a small bird. The phylogenetic position of the cockatiel remains unresolved, other than that it is one of the earliest offshoots of the cockatoo lineage. The remaining species are in two main clades. The five large black coloured cockatoos of the genus Calyptorhynchus form one branch. The second and larger branch is formed by the genus Cacatua, comprising 11 species of white-plumaged cockatoos and four monotypic genera that branched off earlier; namely the pink and white Major Mitchell's cockatoo, the pink and grey galah, the mainly grey gang-gang cockatoo and the large black-plumaged palm cockatoo. Cockatoos prefer to eat seeds, tubers, corms, fruit, flowers and insects. They often feed in large flocks, particularly when ground-feeding. Cockatoos are monogamous and nest in tree hollows. Some cockatoo species have been adversely affected by habitat loss, particularly from a shortage of suitable nesting hollows after large mature trees are cleared; conversely, some species have adapted well to human changes and are considered agricultural pests. Cockatoos are popular birds in aviculture, but their needs are difficult to meet. The cockatiel is the easiest cockatoo species to maintain and is by far the most frequently kept in captivity. White cockatoos are more commonly found in captivity than black cockatoos. Illegal trade in wild-caught birds contributes to the decline of some cockatoo species in the wild. The word cockatoo dates from the 17th century and is derived from Dutch kaketoe, which is from Malay kakatua. Seventeenth-century variants include cacato, cockatoon and crockadore, and cokato, cocatore and cocatoo were used in the eighteenth century. The derivation has also been used for the family and generic names Cacatuidae and Cacatua, respectively. In Australian slang or vernacular speech, a person who is assigned to keep watch while others undertake clandestine or illegal activities, particularly gambling, may be referred to as a 'cockatoo'. Proprietors of small agricultural undertakings are often jocularly or slightly disparagingly referred to as 'cocky farmers.' The cockatoos were first defined as a subfamily Cacatuinae within the parrot family Psittacidae by the English naturalist George Robert Gray in 1840, with Cacatua the first listed and type genus. This group has alternately been considered as either a full or subfamily by different authorities. The American ornithologist James Lee Peters in his 1937 Check-list of Birds of the World, Sibley and Monroe in 1990 maintained it as a subfamily, while parrot expert Joseph Forshaw classified it as a family in 1973. Subsequent molecular studies indicate that the earliest offshoot from the original parrot ancestors were the New Zealand parrots of the superfamily Strigopoidea, and following this the cockatoos, now a well-defined group or clade, split off from the remaining parrots, which then radiated across the Southern Hemisphere and diversified into the many species of parrots, parakeets, macaws, lories, lorikeets, lovebirds and other true parrots of the superfamily Psittacoidea. The relationships among various cockatoo genera are largely resolved, although the placement of the cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) at the base of the cockatoos remains uncertain. The cockatiel is alternatively placed basal to all other cockatoo species, as the sister taxon to the black cockatoo species of the genus Calyptorhynchus or as the sister taxon to a clade consisting of the white and pink cockatoo genera as well as the palm cockatoo. The remaining species are within two main clades, one consisting of the black species of the genus Calyptorhynchus while the other contains the remaining species. According to most authorities, the second clade includes the black palm cockatoo (Probosciger), the grey and reddish galah (Eolophus), the gang-gang cockatoo (Callocephalon) and the pinkish Major Mitchell's cockatoo (Lophochroa), although Probosciger is sometimes placed basal to all other species. The remaining species are mainly white or slightly pinkish and all belong to the genus Cacatua. The genera Eolophus, Lophochroa and Cacatua are hypomelanistic. The genus Cacatua is further subdivided into the subgenera Licmetis, commonly known as corellas, and Cacatua, referred to as white cockatoos. Confusingly, the term 'white cockatoo' has also been applied to the whole genus. The five cockatoo species of the genus Calyptorhynchus are commonly known as black cockatoos, and are divided into two subgenera—Calyptorhynchus and Zanda. The former group are sexually dichromatic, with the females having prominently barred plumage. The two are also distinguished by differences in the food-begging calls of juveniles.