The Psittaciformes are endangered due to illegal trade of eggs of this species and others that are disappearing little by little from the Amazon jungle.
The macaws while being protected by the Washington Convention that bans the sale of fauna and flora endangered continue to disappear from their natural habitat due to illegal trade of this species and the disappearence of the humid forest. Every year in Portugal are confiscated thousands of eggs of various species of parrots and macaws from Brazil protected by international law, which feed a lucrative trade that ascends to thousands. Just to give you an idea, the blue macaw is one of the rarest in the world, there are only 3000 specimens remaining in the wild in the Pantanal, reach up to 50 000 euros in the global black market. Not to mention the hundreds of birds that die during transport, often in boxes with false lids and without any care to enable at least a best packaging and survival of the several species trafficked.
Frightening numbers which however does not deter, nor tears people who buy every year in pet shops and on the Internet several species of these wonderful birds as pets, they are not. A "passion" that emerged in our country, unfortunately at the expense of the discoveries. There are reports of birds of beautiful plumage that astonished the Portuguese court, birds from Brazil. They were considered a sign of wealth at that time.
The macaws are among the few animals that are monogamous in nature, living so far as 50 years. Can reach 90 cm in length and weigh a pound and a half. The biggest of all is the alreay mentioned blue macaw, which can measure up to 1.10 meters in height. Couples hatch an egg or two a year and only return to breed after the chicks leave the nest. A process that can take about two years, which further contributes to its demise in nature.
The preservation of endangered species depends only sometimes of a small gesture on our part. A civic attitude. If you want to enjoy the beauty of these animals in its most wild, the only gesture that can save the macaws is not buying these beautiful specimens. Just take a first step to cross a road. Do this, and go see and enjoy with your kids the animated film Rio.
