Spix’s macaws bred in captivity reach Brazil

Fifty Spix’s macaws arrived in Brazil on Tuesday (Mar. 3) from Germany where they were bred in captivity. They will be taken to the city of Curaça, in Bahia, to a breeding center built specially for them.

According to the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the spix’s will be quarantined for adaptation and training, after which they will be released to live freely in nature. The first release is slated for 2021. ICMBio reported there are 163 specimens of this species around the world today, all of which living in captivity.

A species exclusive to Brazil’s caatinga, a biome concentrated in the Northeast, the Cyanopsitta spixii had its population decimated by hunters and animal trafickers. The last known specimen in the wilderness is said to have disappeared in October 2000. The birds were discovered early in the 19th century by German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix.

Partnership

ICMBio and German NGO Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP) last year signed a deal to bring the Spix’s from the European country to Brazil.

The few specimens living in private collections around the world, the institute said, have been used to reproduce the species in captivity.

*Trainee supervised by Maria Claudia