Geographic Range
Ara ararauna
(blue-and-yellow macaws) can be found throughout subtropical and tropical forests,
woodlands, and savannas in South America from Venezuela to Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia
and Paraguay. Blue-and-yellow macaws are also found in Mexico and are restricted to
Panama in Central America.
- Biogeographic Regions
- nearctic
- neotropical
Habitat
Blue-and-yellow macaws are found mainly in rainforests in swampy and riparian areas.
They nest high in trees to avoid predation.
- Habitat Regions
- tropical
- terrestrial
- Terrestrial Biomes
- rainforest
- Wetlands
- swamp
- Other Habitat Features
- riparian
Physical Description
Blue-and-yellow macaws are from 81 to 91.5 cm long, weigh from 0.9 to 1.8 kg, and
have a wing span of 104 to 114 cm. They are vibrantly colored, with blue on their
backs and wings, yellow under parts, green forehead feathers, and green tips on the
end of their wings. Their under-wing coverts and breast are yellow-orange and they
have black beaks, throat, and legs. Their eyes are yellow and their facial area consists
of bare white skin with several black feather lines around their eyes.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- homoiothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- sexes alike
Reproduction
Blue-and-yellow macaws form monogamous pairs that mate for life.
- Mating System
- monogamous
Blue-and-yellow macaws reach sexual maturity at 3 to 4 years of age. Their breeding season is during the first half of the year and they breed about every 1 to 2 years. Nests are found high up in tall trees, mainly in cavities already made by other animals. Females lay 2 to 3 eggs and incubate them for 24 to 28 days, after which the young hatch blind and featherless. After 10 days the young begin to develop feathers. Within 3 months fledglings become independent.
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- oviparous
Blue-and-yellow macaw males and females care for their young through providing for them and protecting them. During their first week after hatching, only the female will feed the young through regurgitation, afterwards the male will also feed the young. Both parents show extreme aggression towards intruders in order to protect their young.
- Parental Investment
- altricial
- male parental care
- female parental care
-
pre-fertilization
- provisioning
-
protecting
- female
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
provisioning
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-weaning/fledging
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-independence
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
The life span of blue-and-yellow macaws in the wild can be up to 50 years while their
breeding age ranges from 30 to 35 years. They can also live up to 50 years in captivity.
Behavior
Blue-and-yellow macaws are mainly found in pairs but can congregate in groups to form
flocks. When in pairs, they fly close together with their wings almost touching. When
foraging they may join small, noisy flocks during the early morning, by midday they
begin to search for shade. Blue-and-yellow macaws are extremely wary, at any sign
of danger they fly into the air screeching loudly.
Home Range
Communication and Perception
Blue-and-yellow macaws communicate by loud vocalizations or flock calls. They also
have highly developed visual acuity. They have very complex social behavior and vocalizations,
as do all
macaws
.
Food Habits
Blue-and-yellow macaws mainly eat seeds, nuts, and fruits. They use their strong beaks
to break open nut shells and to crush seeds. In some cases, they consume clay found
at riverbanks which allows them to digest the toxins from unripe seeds that they may
have ingested.
- Plant Foods
- seeds, grains, and nuts
- fruit
Predation
Known predators include harpy eagles (
Harpia harpyja
), hawk eagles (
Nisaetus cirrhatus
) and orange-breasted falcons (
Falco deiroleucus
) that attack while the birds are in flight. Humans are also predators because they
hunt these birds for the pet trade, food, and feathers.
Ecosystem Roles
Blue-and-yellow macaws are important seed predators in tropical forests, they may influence forest dynamics through seed predation and dispersal.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Blue-and-yellow macaws are popular as pets because they are beautiful, behaviorally
complex, and have the ability to mimic words and sounds. They are intelligent, social
animals who are great companions and become close to their owners, if handled well.
- Positive Impacts
- pet trade
- body parts are source of valuable material
- ecotourism
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
Although these birds are rewarding companions, their large size, behavioral complexity,
and longevity requires a large home and extensive commitment. Their removal from native
habitats also often results in deaths of parents in order to obtain fledglings and
destruction of important nesting trees. The illegal pet trade results in much destruction.
- Negative Impacts
- household pest
Conservation Status
Ara ararauna
is considered least concern by the IUCN due to their large geographic range. The
population trend is declining but not enough to reach vulnerable status. Populations
are considered greater than 10,000 adult macaws and a decline of less than 10% over
the past 10 years is evident.
Ara ararauna
is extinct in Trinidad and Tobago but conservation efforts have reintroduced these
macaws on Trinidad. Between 1999 and 2004 wild caught macaws from Guyana were brought
to Trinidad and placed into pre-release flight cages. Fourteen birds were released,
9 survived and produced 12 chicks within three mating seasons. Upon a second release,
12 macaws acclimated into pre-existing groups and produced 14 chicks within three
mating seasons. Habitat degradation in South America from pollution, development,
and logging is also affecting populations of blue and yellow macaws.
Additional Links
Contributors
Kristina Catania (author), Florida State University, Emily DuVal (editor), Florida State University, Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
- Nearctic
-
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- Neotropical
-
living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- tropical
-
the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- rainforest
-
rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.
- swamp
-
a wetland area that may be permanently or intermittently covered in water, often dominated by woody vegetation.
- riparian
-
Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream).
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- monogamous
-
Having one mate at a time.
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- altricial
-
young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.
- male parental care
-
parental care is carried out by males
- female parental care
-
parental care is carried out by females
- arboreal
-
Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.
- diurnal
-
- active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- sedentary
-
remains in the same area
- social
-
associates with others of its species; forms social groups.
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- pet trade
-
the business of buying and selling animals for people to keep in their homes as pets.
- ecotourism
-
humans benefit economically by promoting tourism that focuses on the appreciation of natural areas or animals. Ecotourism implies that there are existing programs that profit from the appreciation of natural areas or animals.
- herbivore
-
An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.
- frugivore
-
an animal that mainly eats fruit
- granivore
-
an animal that mainly eats seeds
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
References
Juniper, T. 1998. A Guide to Parrots of the World . New Haven: Yale University Press.
Low, R. 1983. Amazon Parrots . London: The Bailisk Press.
Plair, B. 2008. Ornitologia Neotropical. Behavioral monitoring, of Blue-and-yellow Macaws (Ara ararauna) reintroduced to the Nariva Swamp, Trinidad , 19: 113-122.
Ragusa-Netto, J. 2006. Ornitologia Neotropical. Dry fruits and the abundance of the Blue and yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) at a cerrado remnant in central Brazil , 17.4: 491-500.
2010. "Bird Life International. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species." (On-line). Accessed March 17, 2010 at www.iucnredlist.org .