Search Results (5)

The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) is a charismatic species that is native to Central and South America and commonly housed in captivity. Gaps in knowledge about these birds’ behavioral ecology in the wild hinders both in situ and ex situ management and conservation efforts for this species. We conducted seventeen days of observations of free-living scarlet macaws in two locations in Costa Rica, in February 2022, with the aims of (1) advancing our knowledge of this species’ natural behavioral ecology, and (2) generating data for comparison with captive macaws to help to inform their ex situ management (e.g., enclosure design and enrichment). Routes were walked within two locations—Bosque Escondido (BE), release area for captive-bred reintroduced individuals and no extant wild population, and Punta Leona (PL), an area of natural habitat within a resort inhabited by wild scarlet macaws—and focal interval sampling of multiple scarlet macaws in a group was used to record behavior and space use. The macaws at both locations were generally active, spent most of their time high in the tree canopy, relied on climbing to move within it, and used a wide variety of supports. The macaws at PL spent significantly more time feeding and locomoting, and less time perching, than those at BE, possibly due to differences in resource availability, rearing conditions, and age. Furthermore, the wild scarlet macaws at PL exhibited a variety of foraging strategies to acquire and manipulate food items within the tree canopy, including frequent use of their feet during manipulation. Despite limitations caused by a small sample size, a short period of observations, and differences between the two populations observed, this study provides insights into the behavioral ecology of scarlet macaws in the wild, which can be used for behavioral assessments of captive macaws while informing their ex situ management, with applications to animal welfare and captive breeding programs. Full article

Avian brood reduction was initially thought to be driven by insufficient food supply. Now it is more commonly considered a consequence of asynchronous hatching and resulting siblicide, direct filial infanticide (where parents kill specific chicks) or indirect filial infanticide (where parents starve specific chicks). In psittacines, brood reduction has been reported, but the mechanisms and causes remain unexplored. In this paper, we test the hypotheses that Scarlet Macaw chick starvation is driven by (1) sibling aggression, (2) food scarcity, and (3) parental food allocation based on (a) chick hatch weight and (b) chick age differences. We documented wild Scarlet Macaw behavior in lowland Peru in 37 nests over 19 seasons using morphological measurements and nest videos. Chick starvation was the leading cause of chick mortality (27% of all second-hatched chicks starve, and nearly all third- and fourth-hatched chicks starve). We found no evidence that starvation was caused by (1) sibling conflicts or (2) food availability. We did find parental food distribution favors first-hatched chicks, with larger age differences increasing the chances of second chick starvation. This study offers insights into brood reduction among Neotropical cavity-nesting birds and enhances our capacity to develop scientifically informed management strategies to support endangered psittacines. Full article

A 3-year-old male scarlet macaw parrot (Ara macao) was presented to the Exotic Animal Clinic at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Iași University of Life Sciences (Iași, Romania) for its postmortem examination. According to the owner, the parrot had been raised only in captivity and after 5 days of inappetence, lethargy, and mild respiratory clinical signs, the parrot died. The post mortem examination revealed various-sized granulomas and caseous plaques in the lungs, air sacs, spleen, intestinal serosa, and liver. Microscopically, the granulomas were characterized by a necrotic center and the infiltration of numerous multinucleated giant cells and epithelioid-like cells and by the presence of hyphae typical of Aspergillus spp. Moreover, in the liver tissue, a diffuse inflammation, with numerous fungal hyphae, was noted. The fungal culture and the PCR assay allowed for the isolation and identification of Aspergillus fumigatus from the lung and liver samples. The macroscopical lesions and the histopathological findings, with the fungal isolation and molecular confirmation of Aspergillus fumigatus by nested PCR, provided the basis for the diagnosis of disseminated aspergillosis. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first report of disseminated infection caused by Aspergillus fumigatus in a scarlet macaw parrot (Ara macao). Full article

Given the interest in the conservation of the Mesoamerican scarlet macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera), the Xcaret Park formed an initial reproductive population about 30 years ago, which has progressively grown to a considerable population in captivity. In this work, we focus on the evaluation of the genetic diversity of the captive population, taking two groups into account: its founding (49) and the current breeding individuals (166). The genetic analysis consisted of genotyping six nuclear microsatellite loci that are characterized by their high variability. Tests for all loci revealed a Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in four loci of the founders and in no loci of the breeding groups. The results showed that the genetic variation in the Xcaret population was relatively high (founders He = 0.715 SE = 0.074, breeding pairs He = 0.763 SE = 0.050), with an average polymorphism of 7.5 (4–10) alleles per locus in founders and 8.3 (4–14) in breeding pairs. No significant differences in the evaluated genetic diversity indexes were found between both groups. This indicates that the genetic variability in Xcaret has been maintained, probably due to the high number of pairs and the reproductive management strategy. Bayesian analysis revealed five different genetic lineages present in different proportions in the founders and in the breeding pairs, but no population structure was observed between founders and breeding individuals. The analyzed captive individuals showed levels of genetic diversity comparable to reported values from Ara macao wild populations. These data indicate that the captive population has maintained a similar genetic diversity as the metapopulation in the Mayan Forest and is an important resource for reintroduction projects, some of which began more than five years ago and are still underway. Full article

The use of foster parents has great potential to help the recovery of highly endangered bird species. However, few studies have shown how to successfully use these techniques in wild populations. Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao macao) in Perú hatch 2–4 chicks per nest but about 24% of all chicks die of starvation and on average just 1.4 of them fledge per successful nest. In this study we develop and test new techniques to increase survival of wild Scarlet Macaw chicks by reducing chick starvation. We hypothesized that using foster parents would increase the survival of chicks at risk of starvation and increase overall reproductive success. Our results show that all relocated macaw chicks were successfully accepted by their foster parents (n = 28 chicks over 3 consecutive breeding seasons) and 89% of the relocated chicks fledged. Overall, we increased fledging success per available nest from 17% (2000 to 2016 average) to 25% (2017 to 2019) and decreased chick death by starvation from 19% to 4%. These findings show that the macaw foster parents technique and post relocation supplemental feeding provide a promising management tool to aid wild parrot population recovery in areas with low reproductive success. Full article