Three new Lear’s Macaw chicks have successfully hatched in their natural habitat in the Brazilian Caatinga. The species, which has reached near extinction as a result of poaching and deforestation, has a worldwide population of just 1,700, including just 12 birds in the UK. The chicks are the offspring of a pair bred in Tenerife as part of the Loro Parque Foundation’s Lear’s Macaw Recovery Programme.
The pair were among eight Lear’s Macaw born at Loro Parque and reintroduced to Caatinga in 2019. Among these eight birds, a pair formed spontaneously and had their first chick at the end of last year. Now, with the hatching of these three chicks, the pair has successfully bred for a second time.
In 1990, with only 22 individual birds counted in Caatinga, the Lear’s Macaw faced near-functional extinction. The species inhabits a unique biome in northeastern Brazil, where poaching and deforestation were crucial factors in the Lear’s Macaw’s decline. The pet trade has contributed to the species’ decline, with the Lear’s Macaw thought to be a lucrative species on the black market. In the 1980s, a group of the rare parrots were smuggled into the UK in the petrol tank of a car.
The Loro Parque Foundation, in collaboration with the Brazilian government and other local institutions, developed the Lear’s Macaw Recovery Programme in order to respond to this threat of extinction. In 2006, the Brazilian Government sent a pair of Lear’s Macaws to Loro Parque to establish a breeding programme and reintroduce the species back into its native biome. Only six months after arriving at Loro Parque, the first chicks hatched. Since then, over 40 Lear’s Macaw chicks have been bred.
Javier Almunia, director of Loro Parque Foundation said: “This success reaffirms the relevance of zoo work in conservation, highlighting that animals raised in human care can indeed be successfully introduced to the wild. We are delighted to see this pair of Lear’s Macaw not only return to their natural habitat, but successfully reproduce with three chicks in the same clutch – a rarity occurring in just 3% of wild pairs.
“The Loro Parque Foundation is proud to showcase the effectiveness of our species recovery programme for wildlife conservation. This remarkable case is the result of intensive efforts, including teaching the animals the necessary survival skills before reintroduction took place. It is a real breakthrough.”
The hatching of the three new Lear’s Macaw chicks follows more than a decade of effort for the recovery of the species. This included on-site efforts to combat poaching and ensuring farmers were compensated for any damage caused by the birds to their crops. In collaboration with other organisations, the Loro Parque Foundation has conducted thorough field analysis, including measuring, georeferencing and quantifying the affected corn plantations to provide a precise and effective response.
ABOUT THE LORO PARQUE FOUNDATION
The Loro Parque Foundation is an international non-profit institution that has been dedicated to animal welfare and biodiversity conservation since 1994. The project started in Tenerife with Loro Parque but quickly expanded to achieve global reach through collaboration with partner organisations.
The Foundation works to protect wild species and their habitats through environmental education, research, sustainable breeding programmes and activities with local communities. It has committed over $25 million to conservation projects from Spain to Zambia to the Phillippines and is responsible for saving twelve species from extinction.
Find out more here: https://www.loroparque-fundacion.org/en/
Parrot Conservation: From Kakapo to Lear’s Macaw
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