The feathers of the white cockatoo are mostly white. When mature some female white cockatoos can have reddish/brown irises, while the irises of the adult male are dark brown or black. They have brown or black eyes and a dark grey beak. The male white cockatoo usually has a broader head and a bigger beak than the female. The white cockatoo is around 46 cm (18 in) long, and weighs about 400 g (14 oz) for small females and up to 800 g (28 oz) for big males. (according to molecular analysis) (Wright 2008) during the period when Australia, South America and Antarctica were breaking away from the super-continent Gondwanaland where the ancestral parrots were believed to have evolved.Īlthough white cockatoos and related species have historically been referred to as “white parrots”, taxonomically they are not considered to be “true parrots”. (according to the fossil record) or 66 m.y.a. While psittaciform parrots (true parrots) and cockatoos have many common anatomical attributes such as zygodactyl feet and hooked bills, the cockatoos and true parrots diverged from the ancestral parrots as separate lineages as early as 45 m.y.a. The term "white cockatoo" has also been applied as a group term to members of the subgenus Cacatua, the genus Cacatua as well as larger groups including Major Mitchell's cockatoo and the galah cockatoo.
It lies in the subgenus Cacatua within the genus Cacatua. Its species name alba is a feminine form of the Latin adjective albus for "white". The white cockatoo was first described in 1776 by German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller.
The white cockatoo is known as ayab (plural form: ayot) in the Burmeso language of Papua, Indonesia.
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