![]() Breeding takes place inside tree hollows that look like standing pipes.Īs with other large birds, both parents care for young. ![]() 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. Offsetting this is their very long lifespan. Palm cockatoos only lay one egg every second year and have one of the lowest breeding success rates reported for any species of parrot. Distinct dialects occur throughout the species’ range. In a population in the Iron Range, 30 different syllables were distinguished. These additional syllables are mainly produced by males and are often combined to form long, complex sequences. 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. The palm cockatoo has a large and complex vocal repertoire, including many whistles and even a “hello” call that sounds surprisingly human-like Another possibility could be that males drum to mark their territory against other males. One reason could be that females can assess the durability of the nesting hollow by the resonance of the drumming. Although this drumming behaviour was discovered over two decades ago, the reason why palm cockatoos drum is still a mystery. It has a unique territorial display where the bird (typically the male) drums with a large stick or seed pod against a dead bough or tree, creating a loud noise that can be heard up to 100 m away. ![]() The palm cockatoo is an unusual bird, being an ancient species and one of the few bird species known to use tools. Although longevity of captive birds is known, the lifespan of palm cockatoos that live in the wild is still unknown. The palm cockatoo also has a distinctive red cheek patch that changes colour when the bird is alarmed or excited.Īnecdotal evidence indicates a palm cockatoo reaching 80 or 90 years of age in an Australian zoo, although the oldest confirmed individual was aged 56 in London Zoo in 2000. The male has a larger beak than the female. This powerful bill enables palm cockatoos not only to eat very hard nuts and seeds, but also enables males to break off thick (about 1 in) sticks from live trees to use for a drumming display. The lower and upper mandibles do not meet for much of its length, allowing the tongue to hold a nut against the top mandible while the lower mandible works to open it. The palm cockatoo is 22 to 24 inches in length and weighs 910–1,200 g (2.01–2.65 lb). It is a distinctive bird with a large crest and has one of the largest bills of any parrot (only the hyacinth macaw’s is larger). It may be the largest cockatoo species and largest parrot in Australia, although large races of yellow-tailed black cockatoos and sulphur-crested cockatoos broadly overlap in size. Earlier limited genetic studies found it to be the earliest offshoot from the ancestors of what have become the cockatoo family. The only member of the monotypic genus, Probosciger, the palm cockatoo is a member of the white cockatoo subfamily Cacatuinae. ![]() It is also sometimes given the misnomer “black macaw” in aviculture - the macaws are unrelated New World parrots. Its specific name, Probosciger aterrimus, is from Latin proboscis, long thin nose + -ger, carry, and Latin superlative adjective for ater, black, hence a “black with a long thin nose (beak)”. It has a very large black beak and prominent red cheek patches. The palm cockatoo ( Probosciger aterrimus), also known as the goliath cockatoo or great black cockatoo, is a large smoky-grey or black parrot of the cockatoo family native to New Guinea, Aru Islands, and Cape York Peninsula.
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