Kyle Ewart: That is another amazing thing about them, they live in the arid or semiarid inland Australia, so they live in some of Australia's harshest environments and yet they survive out there. Robyn Williams: And when you say desert, whereabouts do they live? They are sometimes known as the desert cockatoo. Also they are known as Leadbeater's cockatoo because their scientific name is Lophochroa leadbeateri. Kyle Ewart: So I usually refer to them as pink cockatoo. People tend to use 'pink cockatoo' more recently as Major Mitchell got into some strife, some of the horrible stuff he's done as well. He had a pretty famous quote about these birds, about how beautiful they were, and a lot of things are actually named after Major Mitchell. Kyle Ewart: Yes, so he was one of the first to write about these birds.

Robyn Williams: The name Major Mitchell is pretty famous. But it's pretty amazing that it can occur in the wild, not often but it has occurred in the wild. But they vary, sometimes they get more features of the pink cockatoo, sometimes they look more like a galah. I forget what they call them, I think they call them a Major galah because another name for a pink cockatoo is a Major Mitchell's cockatoo. Kyle Ewart: It looks exactly what you'd think halfway between a galah and pink cockatoo. Robyn Williams: When they merge their genomes, what does the offspring look like? But from an evolutionary perspective they are a lot different. In the wild they have even hybridised on occasion, and sometimes you will find a galah in a pink cockatoo nest. But the pink cockatoo and galah do sometimes get together. The pink cockatoo is a fair bit lighter in its plumage, but the amazing thing about the pink cockatoo is its crest, it has got a very bright yellow, red, white crest, and it lives in slightly different regions. Kyle Ewart: Well, they are not too different in appearance. Kyle, as you can see on my card, my business card, there are three galahs. The theme this time is pink, and in our first visit to a museum, we go to see Kyle Ewart who has got some news about cockatoos. And, as you'll hear, I am rather besotted by our colourful, clever birds.

Robyn Williams: It has been a while since we talked about parrots, sorry about that. Guest Kyle Ewart Post doctorial researcher The University of Sydney Research Associate, Australian Museum Sydney New insights into the pink cockatoo, an outback Australian icon вЂ“ The Australian Museum The results have increased our understanding of the pink cockatooвЂ™s evolution and provided a basis for effective conservation management for the species. Over time, these populations are threatened. And climate change is bringing fast changes to the environment. This is important information as populations with low genetic diversity show low resilience to changing conditions and can experience inbreeding. The markers also reveal areas where genetic diversity is low. The results support the grouping of two subspecies.

Using samples from foot pads from close to 100 birds from museum collections covering the entire range, thousands of genetic markers have been identified. Now a study led by Kyle Ewart has looked into the genetic diversity of the pink cockatoo for the first time. For decades ornithologists have identified two subspecies based purely on morphology. The range is wide, extending from the western Australian coast east to central NSW. The pink cockatoo or Major Mitchell cockatoo is found in the harsh environments of inland arid Australia.

Pink cockatoo