Geographical area
The Spix’s Macaw is native to Brazil. It lived in the Amazon rainforest before its extinction.
Breed history
The Spix’s Macaw is said to have been discovered by a Dutch settler in the 17th century. Still, it was not studied until the beginning of the following century by the German naturalist Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix. The name was subsequently given to this species in his honor. However, its description is attributed to the German zoologist Johann Georg Wagler, who would have made it in 1832.
At that time, the numbers of Spix’s Macaw were already relatively low, estimated at less than 200 individuals.
Poaching and the destruction of its natural habitat have made this animal even rarer. Despite a law protecting the species that came into force in Brazil in 1967, individuals continued to be captured. As a result, no Spix’s Macaw could be observed in the wild until 1985, when five birds were seen (5 including two pairs), but they also became victims of poaching.
Five years later, Brazil set up the Standing Committee for the Restoration of the Spix’s Macaw. Efforts were made to promote breeding in captivity, but problems with inbreeding soon emerged.
Today, the species is considered extinct in the wild. A male was, however, seen in 2016. Captive birds, which number in the dozens, live in the Canary Islands, Qatar, Germany, and Brazil.
On March 3, 2020, 52 Spix’s Macaws arrived in Brazil from Germany. They lived at the Breeding and Breeding Center of the Association for the Conservation of Endangered Parrots (ACTP) in Berlin. Their reintroduction into their natural environment is planned for 2021 in 2 vast reserves specially created by the Brazilian authorities.
