'Bundles of Fluff', 'Pink-White Clouds' or 'Cotton Cady', whatever you want to call it, cockatoo is a beautiful, intelligent and affectionate bird. This bird is mainly a native of Australia and Southern Pacific Islands.
Cockatoos are related to Macaws but are relatively friendlier with humans and are softer. They have unusual silk-textured feathers. The beautifully colored pink, white and black crest just above the bald spot of their head is like an amazing crown. These extremely beautiful birds are live quite long with a life span of 70 to 100 years.
A very striking feature cockatoos is that you tell their gender by merely looking at the color of their eyes. While the color of a male Cockatoo's eyes can be dark brown or black, a female has burgundy colored or light brown eyes. |
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Cockatoos are fairly intelligent and quick learners. These crooners not only can talk but also perform cute little tricks. Very interestingly, they are amazing at solving puzzles. Oh! And they can be great escape artists as well, as their clever beaks can break open all nuts and destroy the hardest of woods. With their little antics, they definitely attract attention. They are birds of flock that are loyal to their mate since they bond for a lifetime.
The Palm variety of cockatoos is 29 inches in size. It is also the rarest of all cockatoos. You can actually see this surprising bird emoting. There is a patch on its face that changes color from blue to red upon portraying its emotions. The Triton variety is the smallest with just 11-12 inches size and it is quite common in Australia. Cockatoos mainly feed on seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, blossoms, roots and vegetation such as leaf buds. However, some of them also eat insect and their larvae. Cockatoos are known to raid farmers' crops, destroying sprouts, mature crops and bagged grain.
Cockatoos are major wildlife attraction of Australia. They are definitely not to be missed on an Australian tour. If you happen to miss out on this bird on early Australian mornings do go and watch it in a zoo or a bird sanctuary.
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