Continued from page 1The Past
Moluccan, oops, Salmon-crested cockatoos come from the southern islands of the Moluccas group in Indonesia. Once plentiful, unregulated exportation and rampant habitat destruction has almost guaranteed their extinction in their native environs. Older estimates placed the wild population at 2000 individuals in a very limited range such that, in 1989, they were placed on CITES Appendix 1. Recent estimates are much, much lower.
Not too long ago, wild caught Moluccans were brought over by the boatload, converted to seed at the quarantine stations, stuffed four, five or six to a cage and sold very inexpensively. Many were suffering from disease, including obvious cases of Beak and Feather. These birds were almost impossible to tame or convert from seed and were generally very loud. While cockatoos trust completely once they are convinced that you are not a threat, it is more difficult to win their trust than with any other type of parrot. It is not that they can't be tamed; I have met many Moluccans that I could not believe were wild caught. However, most people did not have the time, patience or knowledge to gain the trust of these wild birds. Frankly, taming a macaw is child's play compared to a cockatoo. Many of these untamed birds were and are abandoned, banished, put down or simply passed from owner, to owner, to owner. This does, however, tend to cure them of screaming, turning them into virtual zombies; afraid to move, afraid to scream, afraid to play or even to eat in some cases.
Not a pretty picture. It is getting a little better, but not much and not quickly enough.
This is important information for we "consumers" to consider. Assuming, for the moment, that so endangered an animal should even be kept as a companion animal at all (and that is an article unto itself), that it is so threatened and has suffered so much abuse makes it even more important that we make certain that we keep our these birds healthy and happy. Not that any bird deserves less, but Moluccans are real treasures and should be treated as such. Ownership is a privilege, not a right. These birds need to be preserved, kept active and happy so that they may be ambassadors for future generations.
The Present
So, if you have the proper degree of reverence for a Moluccan, what else do you need? To answer this question we need to look at the birds themselves.
Moluccan cockatoos are smart, sensitive, emotional, vocal, demanding animals. I say this without fear of breaking my own rules about species generalization. Take, for instance, my use of the word "vocal". I intentionally did not say "loud". Virtually all cockatoos will tend to make some significant form of noise, as will most flocking birds. It is a necessary survival skill. How and to what extent your bird vocalizes is a function of his breeding and your influences as his day-to-day caregiver. Hitchcock can scream to wake the dead, but very rarely does. However, most every morning and evening he will let us know he is around, but never for very long and always at a respectable hour. I would not want to suppress this aspect of his vocalization behavior as it would probably be too contrary to his nature and, accordingly, confusing to him. Also, I wouldn't want to accidentally suppress his exuberance or communicative abilities. However, despite the possibility of minimizing the din to this extent, Moluccan cockatoos are not apartment birds. This is not an absolute, but it is close.
Let's look at just how smart they are for a moment. We had Hitchcock for a couple of days and learned that he was not always exactly fond of getting into his cage when we needed him to. He was, however, very fond of millet. "AHA!" quoth the budding avian behaviorist, just lure him into the cage with a spray of millet and you're home free. This worked exactly once. The next night he took the offering outside of the cage, but would not be lured into the cage. Not impressed? How about this one: Every day for a week or so I would come home and find a toy, previously suspended from the top of his cage by a C-clamp (or "quick link"), sitting on the floor of the cage with the closed C-clamp remaining attached to the top of the cage. Hmmmm. Now, my wife and I are not above playing practical jokes on one another, and I thought maybe she was gas-lighting me. Confronted with my theory her denial was adamant. Next, I suspected the housekeeper, but she only comes once a week. I thought maybe it was O.J., but before the DNA tests came back from the lab I caught the culprit: Hitchcock. He would unfasten the link, remove the toy, drop it to the floor and close the link. Just like kids; you buy them a toy and they play with the box it came in. Hitch liked not the toy, but the fastener. If this doesn't sell you on his smarts, consider this: Hitchcock lifts his foot when he sees the toenail clipper and then lifts the other foot when I'm done with first one. If I do a particularly good job, he leaves me a tip.
Okay, so I made up the part about the tip, but this does lead nicely into one of the most important qualities of the Moluccan owner: intelligence. Call me crazy, but I think it is probably helpful to be smarter than your companion animals.
In all seriousness, these birds are so emotional and smart that you really need to be paying attention and thinking all the time to see that their needs are fulfilled and that they are kept occupied. (Please read my article on the Importance of Observation.) Moluccans are not usually as obvious in their demands as are Umbrellas or other large parrots. It takes a lot of work to learn if a certain "demonstration" is a sign of upsetness or something else. If he is upset, what is he upset about and what are you going to do about it. It is very difficult to know if your Moluccan is trying to tell you the sky is falling, his water is dirty or if he is just saying a big "HELLO".
Aside from being intelligent, a Moluccan owner must be diligent, calm, decisive, knowledgeable, consistent, patient, tolerant. (A lot tougher than the Boy Scouts. For them all you have to be is heterosexual.) This is not meant to be a value judgment or a challenge (prove how good you are by buying a Moluccan), but a set of objective criteria. In fact, some great Moluccan owners would probably bore a Blue & Gold macaw silly. Moluccans are more of a challenge than most sane people seek in a companion animal. I can't fault anyone for being willing to beautifully raise a cockatiel, amazon or whatever, but to admit that they don't have the time or whatever else it takes for a Moluccan. Not being suited for a Moluccan cockatoo doesn't mean that you aren't suited for any exotic or that you are a bad person. Buying a Moluccan when you suspect that you aren't right for it, does.
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