16/12/2023
Whiskey the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo. 🤍
The sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being considered pests. A highly intelligent bird, they are well known in aviculture, although they can be demanding pets.
Sulphur-crested cockatoos' distinctive raucous calls can be very loud, which is a result of an adaptation in order to travel through the forest environments in which they live, including tropical and subtropical rainforests. These birds are naturally curious, as well as very intelligent. They have adapted very well to European settlement in Australia and live in many urban areas.
Being intelligent, in Sydney, Australia they have learned how to open garbage bins as a source of food.The behavior spreads among the birds by imitation. In captivity some will spontaneously dance to music with a variety of unique moves.
These birds are very long-lived, and can live upwards of 70 years in captivity, although they only live to about 20–40 years in the wild. They have been known to engage in geophagy, the process of eating clay to detoxify their food. These birds produce a very fine powder to waterproof themselves instead of oil as many other birds do.