Kata kakatua tertanggal berasal dari [[abad ke-17]] .<!--anddan ismerupakan aderivasi derivationkata fromdari thenama [[IndonesianBahasa languageIndonesia|IndonesianIndonesia]] nameuntuk forburung these birdsini, "Kakatuwah" (meaningyang berarti "vicewakil" oratau "grippegangan"; fromdari its[[paruh]]nya strongyang beakkuat) oratau fromdari thepanggilan callkakatua ofputih theitu white cockatoo itselfsendiri, viamelalui theistilah Dutch[[Belanda]] ''kaketoe''; the wordkata ''cock'' possiblymungkin influencingmempengaruhi kata kaketoe. Seventeenth-centuryTerdapat variantsvarian includekata kakatua di abad ke-17 termasuk cacato, cockatoon and, crockadore, and cokato, cocatore, anddan cocatoo weredigunakan useddi in[[abad the eighteenth centuryke-18]].<ref name="OED">{{cite encyclopedia|title=cockatoo|encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary|editor=J. Simpson, E. Weiner (eds)|year=1989|edition=2nd|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn = 0-19-861186-2}}</ref><ref name="Mynott">{{Cite book|last=Mynott|first=Jeremy |title=Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|year=2009 |page=319|isbn=0-691-13539-8}}</ref> <!--The derivation has also been used for the family and [[genus|generic]] names Cacatuidae and ''Cacatua'' respectively.<ref>{{Cite book|title= [[Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds]]. Volume 4: Parrots to Dollarbird |author= Higgins, Peter Jeffrey (ed.) |year= 1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= Melbourne |isbn= 0-19-553071-3|page=127}}</ref>-->
[[Spesies]] ini hidup pada ketinggian 0-1520 meter dari permukaan laut, biasanya berkelompok. Kakatua pada umumnya berusia panjang, hingga mencapai 60 tahun bahkan lebih.
