Fred The Cockatoo Turns 100 — Famous Bird Is Now (At Least) 100 Years Old

Fred the cockatoo — the infamous sulphur-crested cockatoo currently living at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary — has just turned 100!

Well, turned “at least 100” anyways, as the that number is a very conservative estimate. He could actually be considerably older than 100, going by what is currently known.

image

The cockatoo’s birthday was actually recognized (not that said recognition is that important..) by the UK Monarchy via a special letter from Buckingham Palace.

While it’s an open question whether Fred the cockatoo cares at all about such a letter (I’m guessing not), the receipt of said letter does say something about what the human world thinks of the 100 year old bird.

While its long been known that some birds — such as cockatoos — are quite smart, and can live quite long, I doubt that many people you ask would guess that some of them can live for well over a century.


More generally though, in the wild, cockatoos typically live into their 40s to 50s — before age related decline starts to set in (and, generally, subsequent death).

In captivity that number skews higher, with 70-80 being considered old, but somewhat normal.

There are always exceptions though — as it stands now, the oldest known cockatoo in the world lived to be 125 years of age.

With what’s known about Fred specifically — he’s thought to have been born right around the time of the start of the First World War. He was kept as a family pet for a number of decades, until his last owner dies away and left him to the wildlife sanctuary. He’s been there for at least the past 20 years.

According to his carers, he doesn’t like people entering his enclosure (a bit like the spacial issues people who have spent long periods of time in solitary confinement have I would guess…), likes to pass sticks to visitors through his cage wires, and possesses a good vocabulary for the species.

image

Hopefully this centennial birthday serves as a reminder to those that would consider taking one of these wild animals as a pet that it’s a lifetime responsibility. They live a very long time.

Image Credit: Screen Capture

1 thought on “Fred The Cockatoo Turns 100 — Famous Bird Is Now (At Least) 100 Years Old”

  1. Michael J. Kluck

    Hi

    I am sending you some info about a new technology that neutralizes pollution. Please see below.

    I hope you can publish this short article for your readers.

    Please accept my apologies if you have received the same information from other people.

    Thank you.

    Hydro Infra Technologies

    Hydro Infra Technologies (HIT) is a Stockholm based clean tech company that has developed an innovative approach to neutralizing carbon fuel emissions from power plants and other polluting industries that burn fossil fuels.

    HIT is now taking its technology to market via joint venture partnerships and is being invited by various government ministries around the world to provide solutions to the critical levels of pollution emissions being generated by power plants and other industries.

    The technology developed by HIT uses a patent pending method of generating a gas call Hydro Nano Gas. ( HNG )

    HNG effectively reduces the pollution emissions from burning fossil fuels to almost zero, when injected into exhaust outlets.

    HIT shares its know how with partners who deploy and implement the HNG applications.

    HIT is Swedish public company preparing to list on the stock market in 2015.

    Website: http://www.hydroinfra.com

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top