On an Indonesian Island, an Ancient Ritual Evolves to Protect an Endangered Cockatoo

An Indigenous community on Indonesia’s Seram Island is preserving a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual while helping protect the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo, a new study has found.

The study, published in July in the Journal of Ethnobiology, documents how the Huaulu people adapted the sacred Cidaku initiation ceremony in collaboration with conservationists and government authorities. The ritual marks young men’s transition to adulthood and traditionally involved wearing the distinctive crest feathers of the salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), a bird found nowhere else on Earth. The Huaulu, one of Seram’s oldest Indigenous communities, regard Seram’s forests as a living realm inhabited by powerful spirits, shaping their approach to conservation.

“The use of cockatoo feathers is specifically embedded within this cultural system and is very different from hunting birds for commercial purposes,” study lead author Dwi Agustina, a researcher at Indonesia’s Gadjah Mada University and program coordinator at the Indonesia’s Cockatoo Conservation Association (KKI), told Mongabay in an email.

The Cidaku ritual once had ties to head-taking, but after colonial authorities and Christian missionaries suppressed the practice in the early 20th century, the Huaulu adapted the ceremony around hunting wild animals. The salmon-crested cockatoo became one traditional target, with its crest feathers used in the ceremonial puheliam headdress: the white feathers as a symbol of sacred life, peace and community, and the peach-tinged feathers signifying great strength and courage.

Over the decades, however, the species has become endangered, largely due to poaching for the wildlife trade and habitat loss. That has put the Cidaku tradition at odds with Indonesian conservation law, which prohibits capturing or killing the species, including for ceremonial use.

“The traditional hunting by the Huaulu community had a comparatively lower but not neglecting impact I would say,” study co-author George Olah, a conservation ecologist at Australian National University, told Mongabay in the email.

He cited evidence from Manusela National Park, a protected area on Seram Island that overlaps with the Huaulu community’s forest territory, showing that salmon-crested cockatoo populations had fallen by more than half in some parts of the park. Those findings, in a 2021 study, also documented dozens of confiscated birds across Maluku province, the clutch of islands that includes Seram, and recommended elevating the species’ conservation status from vulnerable to the higher-risk category of endangered.

In addition, the new study also found salmon-crested cockatoo feathers being offered for sale internationally via online marketplace eBay in 2024, underscoring the commercial pressures facing the endangered species. Huaulu community members distinguished their own use of feathers from wildlife trafficking and said they viewed external trade as a major driver of the bird’s decline.

Researchers first conducted fieldwork with the Huaulu community in northern Seram from March to November 2019. Following the COVID-19 disruption, they resumed their fieldwork from July 2024 to May 2025. The study area, near Mount Binaya and Manusela National Park, is among the salmon-crested cockatoo’s last remaining strongholds, following the species’ disappearance from nearby smaller islands of Haruku, Saparua and Nusa Laut. Researchers interviewed 10 community members and surveyed 43 households, and conducted reviews of published research and evidence of feather trading.

Discussions with Huaulu elders, traditional hunters and conservation authorities ultimately led to a proposal to not kill the birds for their feathers and instead gather the feathers that the cockatoos naturally shed. The study found that community members saw the feathers’ authenticity and sacred symbolism, and not the hunt itself, as central to the ritual’s meaning.

While some elders initially worried the change could weaken the association with courage, younger men welcomed the approach, saying declining wild cockatoo numbers had made feathers increasingly difficult to obtain and risked delaying initiation ceremonies. These findings reinforced the conservation strategy of using shed feathers from rehabilitation centers, rescue facilities and zoos, enabling the Cidaku ritual to continue without hunting wild birds.