AGED COCKATOO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 December 1938, Page 7

AGED COCKATOO

134-YEAR-OLD HOLDS RECORD. LONDON ZOO EXHIBIT. A 134-year-old sulphur-crested cockatoo, just received at the London Zoo, probably holds the world’s record for longevity in a bird. It is carrying its years with both dignity and enjoyment. The cockatoo i presented by Mr C. R. Urwin was received by the donor from a female ’relative in 1909, who had kept it for 20 years. She received it from her grandmother, who .had possessed • it ever since she was 22 until her death at the age of 87, and she in turn had received the bird from her mother, who had kept it for over 20 years. The whole subject of avian longevity has been studied by Major Stanley Flower over a period of many years (says the “Observer.”) Records of every zoo and nearly every private aviary have been explored in order to obtain well authenticated figures. One meets with some very surprising figures. The raven, for example, shares with the common carp, and certain animals quite a fallacious reputation for enjoying an over-ripe old age, but the oldest raven whose age is definite known died in the Zoological Park at Washington when nearly 25 years old and showed every sign of senility. This is far surpassed by a carrion crow which graced a chateau at Blois on the Loire for nearly a century. Parrots as a class are probably outlived by the birds of prey, thus shaking the theory that vegetarians tend to live longer than flesh-eaters. Many Griffin vultures have been recorded to have reached the half century or more. One kept at Vienna in 1706 died in 1824.

Cage birds, so often subject for sentimental consideration, are often long-lived. Major Flower’s list gives green finches of 19 years old, several sparrows of over 20 years, and a redcrested cardinal of 30.

As the author says, the house canary must be considered on a different footing, firstly because they are so easily replaced that the identification of a particularly individual in many cases after a lapse of time is a matter of doubt.

Inquiries, however, shows that 15 years is a good average age for a canary, though a cock bird owned by Sir Gordon Nairne lived for 22 years, singing lustily to the last. The large flightless birds —ostriches, cassowaries, penguins, etc., live to a considerable age. Two emus kept in France were still breeding when over 40.

The oldest penguin in the British Isles is “Ann,” a female king penguin, who has graced th?" Edinburgh Zoo for nearly 22 years. She is 26 years old, and in 1937 successfuly raised a chick.