What is a cockatoo?

Cockatoos are parrots. They may not be as colorful as some of their cousins but they are parrots. In order to understand what a cockatoo is we must first understand what a parrot is. 

There around 390 species of parrots. These species are divided into three super-families; psittacoidea (true parrots), strigopoidea (New Zealand parrots), and cacatuoidea (cockatoos). 

Parrots are distinctly different from other birds. People who don't know anything about birds can generally always identify a parrot. 

One of the most distinctive features of parrots are the strong curved beaks. Parrots are what we call hookbills. This means their beaks are designed to be strong enough to break through nuts and other hard food items. 

Parrots also have unusual feet. A parrot has four toes, two that face the front and two that face the back. We call this zygodactyly. 
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difference between cockatoos and other parrots

A cockatoo is any of the roughly 21 species of parrots that belong to the superfamily cacatuoidea. 

Cockatoos are not as colorful as other parrots species. Most cockatoos species are white with a little bit of yellow, black, salmon-colored, or grey and red. Generally, both the male and the female of a cockatoos species looks the same. The most notable exception to this is the gang-gang cockatoo (callocephalon fimbriatum). The gang-gang cockatoo is a mostly gray bird. The males have a red head and crest. The females have a grey crest. 

The final major feature that separates cockatoos from the rest of the parrot family are their crests. The feathers that stand up on the top of a cockatoo's head is called the crest. They often raise their crests when they get excited.  

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Cockatoo species:

- Blue-Eyed Cockatoo
- Cockatiel
- Ducorps Corella
- Galah Cockatoo
- Gang-Gang Cockatoo
- Glossy Black Cockatoo
- Gofins Cockatoo
- Lesser Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
- Little Corella
- Long Billed Corella
- Long Billed Black Cockatoo
- Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
- Moluccan Cockatoo
- Palm Cockatoo
- Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo
- Red-Vented Cockatoo
- Short-Billed Black Cockatoo
- Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
- Umbrella Cockatoo 
- Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo