On the bucket list of many who enjoy bird watching holidays, the Cockatoo is a curious being. It was originally believed that the bird reached Europe in the late fifteenth century, with an Australasian Cockatoo in a 1496 painting by Andrea Mantegna thought to represent its arrival on the continent.
Further research has now uncovered that the Cockatoo may well have reached Europe many years earlier. Work was undertaken at the University of Turku, in Finland, to learn more about the images included in a thirteenth century manuscript on falconry, which was written either by or for King Frederick II of Sicily.
An Ancient Manuscript Holds the Key to Avian History
Written between 1241 and 1248, De Arte Venandi cum Avibus or
A number of the images included in the manuscript depicted a ay once offered a polar bear to Henry III of England in 1251.)
The True Story of the Cockatoo in Europe
Intrigued by rare animals and the books that documented their existence, Frederick II enjoyed studying these more exotic and unusual creatures. Egypt
Outdating Mantegna manuscript, with close analysis of the crest and colouring of the drawing undertaken.
A number of further details were ascertained. Scholars deemed the Cockatoo to have been female, and to have been either a Triton or from one of the several sub-species of Yellow-crested Cockatoo. Taking this information, it was concluded that the bird gifted to Frederick II originated from either Indonesia, the northernmost tip of the Australian mainland, New Guinea or the islands off New Guinea.
The Longest Journey
The journey of this Cockatoo from these far off regions to Sicily offered an interesting point for further research. Thriving trade routes ran through the waters leading to northern Australia, with many merchants buying and selling live animals and rare birds such as the Cockatoo. A number of artefacts, articles and records have provided evidence that during the early thirteenth century, such trading may well have included those
The King