Australian cockatoo spotted in 13th century Vatican manuscript

Alessandra Kelley

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...atican-manuscript-inspire-trade-route-rethink

The images are believed to be the oldest European depiction of the bird, trumping a similar discovery in a 15th-century artwork, and have sparked a reassessment of trading routes that existed more than 700 years ago.

The drawings are likely to be of a sulphur-crested cockatoo, a yellow-crested cockatoo or a Triton cockatoo, from the northern tip of Australia, New Guinea, or the islands around New Guinea, and show how trade in the waters around Australia’s north was flourishing in medieval times.

The sketches were discovered by Finnish researchers in the manuscript De Arte Venandi cum Avibus (The Art of Hunting with Birds), which was written in Latin by Frederick II, between 1241 and 1248, and is held in the Vatican library.
 

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Fascinating.

Plot bunny - story of the cockatoo from its fledgling days in Australia, capture, transport half way across the world, and life in the royal court.
 

Helix

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The thing to remember is that white cockatoos are not restricted to Australia. Several species occur in western Indonesia (including the lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo) and one is restricted to the Philippines.