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  Profile

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  In flight

Parrots

Palm Cockatoo

Probosciger aterrimus

• mythic
• 45 km/h
• Near Threatened

Goth rockstar energy in parrot form, complete with a massive bill and crimson face patch.

Population

260,000–640,000 mature individuals (decreasing trend; 2023 IUCN/BirdLife International assessment)

Habitat

Lowland to submontane tropical/subtropical moist forest, rainforest edges and woodland, and moist savanna with fringing forest, up to about 1,350 m elevation

Fun fact

The Palm Cockatoo is one of the only non-human animals known to manufacture and use a tool for a musical/rhythmic display: males fashion a stick or seed pod into a drumstick and rhythmically beat it against a tree hollow, each individual keeping its own personal, signature rhythm, as part of its courtship/territorial display.

Range

Northern Cape York Peninsula (Queensland, Australia), New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Indonesian Papua/West Papua, incl. Bird's Head Peninsula and Raja Ampat), and the Aru Islands (Indonesia)

Diet

Mainly hard seeds and nuts of forest trees, especially pandanus palm fruits and kanari (Canarium) nuts, plus fruits such as Darwin stringybark, nonda, cocky apple, beach almond, and black bean tree seeds, cracked open with its massive bill

Size

0.58 m

Lifespan

40 years