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Kookaburra

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Kookaburra

Kookaburras (pronounced /ˈkʊkəbʌrə/) are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between 28 and 47 cm (11 and 19 in) in length and weigh around 300 g (11 oz). The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, onomatopoeic of its call. The loud, distinctive call of the laughing kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve an Australian bush setting or tropical jungle, especially in older movies.

They are found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savannah, as well as in suburban areas with tall trees or near running water. Though they belong to the larger group known as "kingfishers", kookaburras are not closely associated with water.

The genus Dacelo was introduced by English zoologist William Elford Leach in 1815. The type species is the laughing kookaburra. The name Dacelo is an anagram of alcedo, the Latin word for a kingfisher. A molecular study published in 2017 found that the genus Dacelo, as then defined, was paraphyletic. The shovel-billed kookaburra was previously classified in the monotypic genus Clytoceyx, but was reclassified into Dacelo based on phylogenetic evidence.

Five species of kookaburra can be found in Australia, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands:

The laughing and blue-winged species are direct competitors in the area where their ranges now overlap. This suggests that these two species evolved in isolation, possibly during a period when Australia and New Guinea were more distant.[citation needed]

The Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay and Wiradjuri people named this bird “guuguubarra”. It is native to the eastern mainland part of Australia.

Kookaburras are sexually dimorphic. This is noticeable in the blue-winged and the rufous-bellied, where males have blue tails and females have reddish-brown tails.

Kookaburras are almost exclusively carnivorous, eating mice, snakes, insects, small reptiles, and the young of other birds. Unlike many other kingfishers, they rarely eat fish, although they have been known to take goldfish from garden ponds. In zoos, they are usually fed food suitable for birds of prey.

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