COSMOS MAGAZINE

Cocka-two: 

By Ellen Phiddian

sulphur-crested cockatoo is 2 species

Sulphur-crested cockatoos are a familiar, squawking, presence across much of Australia and Melanesia. But according to a genetic study, they are actually 2 separate species.

While one of those species is so abundant it’s winning the war against wheelie bins, the other could be in deep danger.

The study finds that a type of cockatoo which inhabits much of New Guinea – the Triton cockatoo – is a distinct species from sulphur-crested cockatoos.

Credit: Matthew Kwan

This means that  re-introducing Australian birds to places in New Guinea, where Triton cockatoos are struggling, could do more harm than good.

“Introducing the wrong species in the wrong place could jeopardise their long-term survival in the wild through hybridisation or competition between the Triton cockatoo and the sulphur-crested cockatoo, potentially even disrupting ecosystems in the long term,”

Lead researcher Dr Arthur Sands, an ecologist at the University of Hong Kong.

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