Article from Vol 47 no 2, May 2025
How did a cockatoo reach 13th-century Sicily?, Heather Dalton
Abstract:
Frederick II of Sicily made contact with the Kurdish al-Malik Muhammad al-Kamil in 1217, a year before he became Sultan
of Egypt. Over the next 20 years, the two rulers communicated regularly, exchanging letters, books and rare and exotic
animals. One exotic gift the Sultan sent Frederick was a Sulphur-crested or Yellow-crested Cockatoo. A written description
and four sketches of this parrot survive in a 13th-century Latin manuscript in the Vatican Library. These images reveal that
Australasian cockatoos were present in the Middle East and that one reached medieval Europe about 1240.
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