大绿金刚鹦鹉种

The great green macaw (Ara ambiguus), also known as Buffon's macaw or the great military macaw, is a critically endangered Central and South America parrot found in Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Two allopatric subspecies are recognized; the nominate subspecies, Ara ambiguus ssp. ambiguus, occurs from Honduras to Colombia, while Ara ambiguus ssp. guayaquilensis appears to be endemic to remnants of dry forests on the southern Pacific coast of Ecuador. The nominate subspecies lives in the canopy of wet tropical forests and in Costa Rica is usually associated with the almendro tree, Dipteryx oleifera.

Taxonomy

The great green macaw belongs to the genus Ara, which includes other large parrots, such as the scarlet macaw, the military macaw, and the blue-and-yellow macaw.

This bird was first described and illustrated in 1801 by the French naturalist François Le Vaillant for his Histoire Naturelle Des Perroquets under the name "le grand Ara militaire", using a skin deposited at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris.

Description

Great green macaws are the largest parrots in their natural range, the second heaviest macaw species (although they are relatively shorter tailed than other large macaws such as the red-and-green macaw and are thus somewhat shorter), and the third heaviest parrot species in the world. This species averages 85–90 cm (33.5–35.5 in) in length and 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) in weight. They are mainly green and have a reddish forehead and pale blue lower back, rump and upper tail feathers. The tail is brownish-red tipped with very pale blue.

Distribution and habitat

The great green macaw lives in tropical forests in the Atlantic wet lowlands of Central America from Honduras to Panama and Colombia, and in South America in the Pacific coastal lowlands in Panama, Colombia and western Ecuador, where they also occur in deciduous (seasonal), dry tropical forests. In Colombia, where both species occur, it prefers more humid woodlands than the closely related military macaw.

Ecology

To improve the state of knowledge of the natural history the great green macaw in Costa Rica a large study using radio telemetry was launched by George V. N. Powell and conducted by a team of researchers from 1994 to 2000. The main objectives were to determine the home range of A. ambiguus, characterize the habitats that it frequents and learn more about its feeding habits, ecological associations, abundance, and reproduction and nesting habits.

Behaviour

Birds are usually observed in pairs or small groups of up to four to eight birds, very rarely more.

Cultural associations

With a 2004 resolution, the city council voted to consider the subspecies Ara ambiguus ssp. guayaquilensis, known in the city as papagayo de Guayaquil, as an emblematic symbol of Guayaquil in Ecuador. A July 2005 city ordinance declared it so. A 12m high ceramic monument to this subspecies by the artist Juan Marcelo Sánchez was unveiled in the city in 2006.

The macaw was also declared an official symbol of the village of El Castillo, Nicaragua, in the 2000s.

Conservation

Status

This species of parrot is considered critically endangered by the IUCN. In 2001 Chassot et al.. thought it should be considered at risk of extinction in Costa Rica. The species is protected from international trade under CITES Appendix I. While conservation projects have had success educating people and releasing great green macaws into the wild, the global population was estimated at 500–1,000 mature individuals in the IUCN's 2020 Red List assessment, which classifies the species as Critically Endangered (criterion A4abcd) with a decreasing population trend.