The Palm Cockatoo, Probosciger aterrimus, photographed in the Iron Range National Park rainforest, Cape York, Queensland, Australia. This largest of Australias Cockatoos is one of three subspecies and only occurs in the rather small remnant of rainforest remaining in all of Australia in the the Cape York region. Two other subspecies occur, one in Papua Indonesia and the other in New Guinea. It attains a length of from 22 - 24 inches and a weight of from 2.0 - 2.65 pounds. Palm Cockatoos use their powerful beaks to open their favorite food, Pandanus palm fruit and nuts from the Kanari tree, Canarium australasicum. They have also been observed eating fruit from Darwin Stringybark Eucalyptus tetradonta and Nonda tree as well as seeds from the Cocky apple tree, Beach almond and Black Bean tree. Palm Cockatoos appear to mate for life. They lay a single egg in old tree hollows that resemble pipes. Both parents tend to the chick, which takes a considerably longer time to fledge than most other Parrot species. One of the few Birds known to make told, the male Palm Cockatoo fashions a stick into a drumming instrument that may be used to attract females. It might also or otherwise function as a territorial display as the male drums of a tree with this stick to make a sound that can be heard from 330 feet away. The Palm Cockatoo is still relatively common in Cape York, but is threatened there by habitat destruction, particularly due to bauxite mining around Weipa and altered fire regimes elsewhere. Palm Cockatoos are hunted in New Guinea. The Palm Cockatoo is currently evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES.
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 10:20:59 +0000
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