For generations, Indonesia’s Huaulu community hunted endangered cockatoos for a sacred ritual; now they use naturally shed feathers | World News

Representative Image of salmon-crested cockatoos in a lush forest on Seram Island (AI-generated image)

On Indonesia’s Seram Island, the Huaulu Indigenous community has adapted a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual to reduce hunting pressure on the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo. The Cidaku ceremony marks young men’s transition to adulthood and traditionally involved hunting the cockatoo for its distinctive crest feathers, which are worn in a ceremonial headdress called the puheliam. A new study in the Journal of Ethnobiology titled Sacred Rituals and Endangered Birds: A Biocultural Approach to Cockatoo Conservation on Seram Island, Indonesia, documents how the community, working with researchers and conservation authorities, agreed to replace hunted feathers with naturally moulted ones collected from rescue and rehabilitation centres and zoos. The change allows the ceremony to continue while removing the need to kill wild cockatoos for feathers. Researchers say the approach illustrates how conservation can work with Indigenous cultural traditions rather than simply imposing outside restrictions. However, they stress that the arrangement addresses only one source of pressure, while illegal wildlife trafficking and habitat loss remain much larger threats to the species.

Why the Cidaku ceremony traditionally used salmon-crested cockatoo feathers

For generations, young Huaulu men demonstrated their passage into adulthood through the Cidaku ritual, in which salmon-crested cockatoo feathers formed an important part of the ceremonial puheliam headdress. The symbolism is deeply rooted in Huaulu spiritual traditions: the community views the forest as a living realm inhabited by powerful spirits, and hunting is understood as a sacred exchange rather than simply a means of obtaining an animal or its feathers. The cockatoo became one of the ritual’s important animal targets after earlier traditions associated with head-taking were suppressed by colonial authorities and Christian missionaries in the early 20th century. The research describes the subsequent adaptation as part of a much longer history of cultural change, with the ritual retaining its spiritual significance while its specific practices evolved.

Why conservation laws created a conflict with the tradition

The salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) is endemic to the Maluku Islands and is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Its populations have declined sharply, with researchers identifying demand from the illegal wildlife trade as the primary driver, alongside habitat loss from logging and agriculture. The species has disappeared from the nearby islands of Haruku, Saparua and Nusa Laut, leaving Seram as its main remaining stronghold. Indonesian law also gives the bird strict national protection, prohibiting its capture, possession or killing, including for ceremonial purposes. That created a difficult conflict for the Huaulu: enforcing wildlife law protected the cockatoo but could also threaten a ritual central to the community’s cultural and spiritual identity. The researchers therefore explored whether the material used in the ceremony could change without removing the ceremony’s deeper meaning.

How naturally shed feathers created a compromise

Researchers worked with the Huaulu community in two main periods, from March to November 2019 and again from July 2024 to May 2025 after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the project. They interviewed community members, surveyed households and consulted traditional leaders, hunters and conservation authorities. The resulting agreement uses naturally moulted cockatoo feathers obtained through rescue centres, rehabilitation facilities and zoos instead of feathers taken from hunted birds. The study describes this as a form of symbolic substitution: the feathers retain their cultural and ceremonial importance, while the hunt itself is no longer necessary to obtain them. The agreement also revives traditional forest taboos and customary rules against commercial wildlife exploitation. Researchers caution, however, that this solution does not by itself resolve the cockatoo’s wider conservation crisis. Illegal wildlife trafficking and habitat loss remain major threats, meaning long-term protection will require both community-led conservation and broader action against commercial exploitation.