Why macaws are endangered

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It appears that you are currently using Ad Blocking software. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, establishes world-wide controls on the international trade in threatened species of animals and plants. It requires that this trade be subject to authorization by government-issued permits or certificates. In the case of species threatened with extinction, CITES prohibits all commercial trade in wild specimens.

The Convention was signed in and more than countries are members. Appendix I: Species endangered and trade is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. Appendix II: Species which would become endangered unless trade is regulated.

Jamaican Green-and-yellow Macaws. Genus: Scientific: Ara English: Macaws Dutch: Echte Aras German: Eigentliche Aras French: Aras. Species: Scientific: Ara guadeloupensis aka Anodorhynchus purpurascens English: Guadeloupe Macaw Dutch: Guadeloupe Ara German: Guadeloupe Ara French: Ara de Guadeloupe.

Distribution: Formerly inhabited Guadeloupe, now extinct. Species: Scientific: Ara martinica They have large curved bills and a featherless area around their face, and their eyes are either light yellow for adults or grey for juveniles. Scarlet macaws are mostly vegetarian, predominantly eating nuts, seeds, leaves, and fruits. They occasionally eat insects. Their large and flexible beaks allow them to access unripened fruits and tough nuts that are not possible for most other birds to eat.

They can sometimes be found on riverbanks eating clay a behavior known as geophagy , thought to help them digest harsh, toxic plant materials.

A variety of species, including scarlet macaws eating at a clay lick in Peru's Tambopata National Reserve. As highly social animals, scarlet macaws are rarely alone in the wild. They live in family groups or in pairs, and they form lifelong monogamous bonds with their mates. While many parrots remain with their mate only during the breeding season, scarlet macaw pairs stay together year-round.

Both parents teach and care for their chicks. They typically nest in natural or previously excavated cavities in trees, where the female will incubate a clutch of eggs for an average of 28 days. After hatching, both parents feed the chicks 4 to 15 times a day, by regurgitating food for the hatchlings. Chicks fledge from the nest after 3 to 4 months days but stay with their parents for up to 1 year -- a time of significant learning about how to survive in the forest.

They can live up to 50 years in the wild and 75 years in captivity. The northern subspecies of the parrot has been listed as endangered and a distinct population segment DPS of the southern subspecies A. The Service has also added the southern subspecies and subspecies crosses of the scarlet macaw to an existing special rule for parrots under section 4 d of the ESA.

This continues to provide needed protections while allowing for interstate commerce and the import and export of certain captive-bred birds provided the requirements of the Wild Bird Conservation Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES are met. The scarlet macaw is protected by both this important U.

A pair of scarlet macaw chicks rescued from poachers in Belize. Credit: Friends for Conservation Development. The main drivers of scarlet macaw declines are habitat loss and poaching for the illegal pet trade.

Like many parrots, scarlet macaws depend on trees for feeding and nesting, making them vulnerable to deforestation. Scarlet macaws also have a low reproductive rate having only chicks every other year , so removing parrots from the wild for the illegal trade can have devastating effects on the population. Humans have used scarlet macaws for centuries, featuring their bright feathers in ceremonial garments as early as CE; some communities in Mexico and New Mexico even housed scarlet macaws in breeding centers to harvest their feathers over years ago.

Today, however, the demand for scarlet macaws as pets has reached such unsustainable levels that the birds are suffering steep declines in some regions.

Many birds destined for the pet trade die during capture and transport. A community play features scarlet macaws near Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve. Credit: Bosque Anitguo AC.