The Return of Lear's Macaw: A Loro Parque Fundación project

On this blog I am going to highlight the various projects that the Loro Parque Fundación participates in or supports. Most of these deal with the conservation and rehabilitation of parrots, but there are also other projects of interest. Let me start with a clear success story: the restoration of the wild population of Lear’s Macaw.

Lear’s Macaw (Anodorhynchus leari) is a beautiful dark blue parrot, looking very much like the Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) but Lear’s is smaller than his more familiar cousin.

Loro Parque is one of the few zoos worldwide to house these parrots and a few of them are still living close to the entrance to the parque, actually the first birds you encounter after the photo area. I have some fond memories sitting there at the bench and watching them go about their things. 

Lear’s Macaws only live in a small, dry region in Brazil where their main food, around 95% of their diet, consists of fruits of the licuri palm (Syagrus coronata) which also grows there. Like so many parrot species, these macaws have suffered illegal capture and trade, as well as persecution by farmers for grazing maize crops.. 

Licuri palm fruits

 Moreover, their already small habitat has been taken up by cattle use and their main food source diminished by the collection of licuri palm fruits or the leaves for the production of something called ouricury wax which is used to make inks, lubricnats or polishes. As a result, the numbers of birds started to dwindle until no more than 66-70 birds were estimated to be living in the wild by the mid 1980s and the species was considered as “Critically Endangered”.

 The happy news now is that since the numbers of Lear’s Macaws have grown to an estimated 1100-1300 individuals and the population is still increasing. This bird is therefore now listed as ‘Endangered’. This phenomenal success was achieved by a combination of measures: political and regulatory measures, education and participation of the local people into the need of preserving the licuri palm as well as create a viable captive population to ultimately release in the wild to establish new groups of birds.

Loro Parque itself has played a role in the latter as well, and a movie which is shown during the shows tells about the successful release of birds born and raised at the zoo. And the Fundación has contrbuted a significant budget to this effort. So, Lear’s Macaw is doing better, not out of the danger zone yet, but one can be hopeful now. 

It is the multilevel approach that makes this project such a success, but also the scientific knowledge and insights gained by studying these birds in captivity play a crucial role in, for instance preparing captive birds for a return to the wild, training them how to forage on their own, etc. That is why modern zoos like Loro Parque can contribute so much to restoring our planet’s fellow inhabitants. 

For more info, see Loro Parque Fundacion's website.