Spix's Macaw
Cyanopsitta spixii
Aves
EXTINCT IN THE WILD
Stats
- Lifespan
- 20-40 yrs
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Pair
- Biome
- Tropical dry forest
- Range
- South America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Speed
- Status
- Extinct in the Wild
About
The rarest parrot on Earth, Spix's Macaw vanished from the wild in 2000 when the last known individual disappeared, surviving today solely through a captive-breeding program of roughly 180 birds. Small groups were reintroduced to Brazil's caatinga scrubland in 2022, marking the first wild sightings in over two decades.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA few round white eggs are incubated deep in a tree cavity, the female rarely leaving until they hatch.
- 2.hatchlingA featherless hatchling is fed regurgitated food by both parents inside a tree cavity.
- 3.juvenileA feathered juvenile fledges with duller plumage than the adults, learning to crack seeds and to call.
- 4.adultFully grown with bright adult plumage.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Cyanopsitta
- Species
- Cyanopsitta spixii