Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari.oz.au!sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au!spam!wvenable
From: wvenable@spam.ua.oz (Bill Venables)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Palm cockatoos.. endangered?
Message-ID: <342@spam.ua.oz>
Date: 19 Jul 90 04:02:57 GMT
References: <90198.165720JAHAYES@MIAMIU.BITNET> <26A4B6E5.12DB@intercon.com>
Organization: Statistics, Pure and Applied Maths, University of Adelaide
Lines: 23

In article <26A4B6E5.12DB@intercon.com> kdb@macaw.intercon.com 
(Kurt Baumann) writes:
>
>The Washington DC zoo has two Palm Cockatoos which they are
>"breeding".  These birds (appendix 1) are on display, and are
>subjected to all of the traffic passing by.  Cockatoos are not easy
>to breed [even] when they are given lots of room and privacy...
>
This is a side issue, I know, but are Palm Cockatoos really on the
endangered list?  I have made three trips to Cape York (Northern
Australia) in the last few years and I have had no difficulty in
finding them, regularly, and in quite a few different places, on all
three occasions.  I can think of many endangered species much more in
need of a captive breeding programme, (unless it is simply to
discourage bird smuggling).

BTW the other large psitticaform bird much in evidence on Cape York is
the Eclectus parrot, which I suppose is fairly well known in captivity.


-- 
  Bill Venables, Dept. Statistics,        | Email:   wvenable@spam.ua.oz.au
  Univ. of Adelaide,  South Australia.    | Phone:           +61 8 228 5412