As pets they will often bond with just one person, while being aggressive to others. They're really smart birds, and can be trained to mimic speech. But being smart means that if you keep them as a pet, then you must make sure they don't get bored. So they need plenty of toys to chew on. When I see wild Sulphur-crested cockatoos they're often playing with something like seed pods or even aluminium cans. I was watching some cockatoos play football with a can once. And I will say right now I was appalled - one of the birds was clearly offside.

What do they eat?
Seeds, berries, nuts, roots. They have an immensely powerful beak strong enough to cut small branches, but they don't eat the branches - they look to me like they're doing it more out of fun! People who feed them bird seed from their balconies often come to regret it later because they will return in ever-increasing numbers, often chewing up the timberwork on balconies or window sills while waiting to be fed. These birds are natural pruners of native plants. You might be happy to have your grevilleas cut back, but not the expensive cedar woodwork on your house. I remember seeing flocks of these birds hanging around on a neighbour's television aerial, waiting to be fed. There were so many birds on the arial that it kept bending over under their weight. Pity the poor folks indoors wondering why their TV reception kept changing.
They're considered a pest by some farmers too, because of the way they like to chew their way through some crops. |
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