Macaws in Decline

Macaw parrots are the largest parrots and are native to central and south America. These parrots found in the rainforests live in the canopy layer where they nest in the holes formed into the palm trees. Macaws fly inbetween these trees and the fruit they feed on such as arguaje palm fruit and has close association to urban areas near miami due to the high availability of bird feeders and for this reason it's unlikely they'll become an invasive species to the native wild species outside of the macaws natural range. All 18 macaw species are currently in decline with 8 of these species endangered and 2 thought to be extinct in the wild. Their greatest downfall in contributing to their vulnerability is their loud noises emitted for communication, vibrant colours, their lack of fear of humans and their predictability making them vulnerable to poaching.

There is serious reason for concern for the Florida population of macaw species. The decline is responsible due to their spectacular vibrantly coloured coat and their sociability which has created a huge demand for these species  in the pet trade. There is such a high demand that the value of each may cost upwards of $10,000. Although there are laws in Florida inhibiting the capture, trade or possession of birds native to Florida (Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act), Macaws are not considered native and so this piece of legislation does not aid in the protection of the macaw assemblage. Poaching is widely advertised reaching optimum audience size and with little known by even zoologists, poachers have little information on optimum conditions for the survival of these macaw speices which has led to detrimental effects onto the population. Poachers captures the young individuals to optimize the fecundity of the breeding pairs and turn as much of a profit as possible. It was recorded that there was a mortality rate of 99% of those young upon being captured and being sold. The age structure has direct effects on growth of the population and using life tables is used in determining population growth in animal population. These life tables tabulate the number of individuals in each age class as each class is associated with different birth and death rates. This capturing of these young macaws results in a decrease in the predicted growth. This practice is detrimental as they have low reproductive rates where each individual may not reproduce every year even with optimal conditions. This poaching process of offspring is not capable of sufficiently replenishing their population and the removal of the young decreases the fecundity of the population. Although, in depth surveys have not been performed on the Miami Macaw population it is widely believed that this population belongs to a single flock and so all individuals in this population have similar genetic make ups due to restricted viable mates. Translocation of suitable macaw individuals should be immigrated into these habitats so they can achieve genetic rescue. Genetic rescue aims to diversify the gene pool and to increase the offspring fitness for survival.

Despite not causing negative implications onto the surrounding native species, fears of disturbance by agriculturists have also caused a decline in populations near settlements. The agriculturists would kill the macaws as they feared they'd disturb their livestock with their loud noises and damage the palm trees that they nest in.

Populations residing in the Amazon rain forest  are in decline because of the defforestation. Based on satellite images taken of the rainforest in 2018, 7,900km has been erradicated between August 2017 and July 2018 (11 months) so they convert the rainforest into a more profitable practice (meat production). The deforrestation quite obviously destroys a whole flocks nesting sites and food sources (insect and fruit). Brightsmith who had been underwritten by the Schubot , Earthwatch Institutes and Rainforrest expeditions and was a researcher Texas A&M University had discussed an overlooked factor for this assemblages decline was responsible from the demand for Arguaje palm fruit which had served as the prefferable nesting site and food source of these parrots. He also added that we 'need to learn more about their breeding habitats, their migration routes and many other thing' if we wish to replenish this population.

Are zoos evil?

Zoos play a vital role in helping endangered species from going totally extinct. With a 6th mass extinction looming (Leakey and Lewin, 1995) the correct maintenance of zoos may be vital in ensuring the survival of a species which no longer can survive due to their low populations, low genetic diversity etc (Armstrong and Seddon, 2008). Although, zoos are currently ran based on earning a profit with 75% of species in global zoos are not in any danger of extinction and any species that are in danger haven't established a rewilding programme. It is quite evident that the wellbeing and survival of these animals are not a main priority. This blog will examine how these zoos may be an invaluable asset to the world's biodiversity and the issues that will become more frequent if this isn't changed. 

Pheonix zoo's reintroduction of Arabian oryx's back into their natural habitat is an example of how zoo's have been effectively used positively for the wellbeing of the animals within their captivity. They initially bred 9 individuals which would eventually produce 200. Once it reached this region they were divided up and breeding pairs were transported to zoos across the globe which would result in more genetic diversity within the population. Since their reintroduction into Oman in 1982, this population had increased to 2,200 within 2 decades and so was considered a success. Recent records of this population has displayed a decline due to excessive poaching and has no correlation with failure with this rewilding programme.  

Despite the cruelty of trapping a wild animal in a cage which has a genetic restlessness to migrate, hunt etc, zoos are awful from a conservation point of view. This had been displayed  in the Copenhagen zoo where the genetic diversity of a young giraffe named Marius was too similar to all the other giraffes which would enable inbreeding within the population. The zoo keeper (Bengt Holst) had stated it was not possible to transfer this giraffe to another zoo in Europe despite much interest from zoos across Europe. Marius the giraffe had been subject to generations of increasingly less diverse genetics due to a very small gene pool because each zoo typically have a maximum of 10 giraffes in each zoo and so preventing inbreeding is difficult with such a small viable gene pool. This issue will not just go away but will become more and more common until there are no longer any species that will produce healthy offspring. By the time reintroduction is needed the deleterious species will not be capable of survival in wild environments. Entrapment of these animals should only be done for the sole purpose of raising a healthy population suitable for rewilding and will ensure the survival of their species. The success of these rewilding projects are strongly correlated with the size of the population released.