Captive Macaws Now
Reproduce In The Wild in
Costa Rica
Endangered scarlet
macaws born in captivity
are reproducing in the
wild for the first time
on Costa Rica's southern
Pacific coast.
The ZooAve Center for
the Rescue of Endangered
Species has released 100
of the birds into the
wild in the last decade.
But biologists didn't
spot offspring until
last year, said
biologist Laura
Fournier.
Since then, they have
recorded 22 chicks born
in the wild, and four
more scarlet macaw
couples have laid eggs,
Fournier said.
The parrots once
occupied all of Costa
Rica. But hunting and
poaching dramatically
cut their population,
and they are now found
only in two national
parks along the coast.
The biologists' goal is
for 200 birds to
populate an isolated
coastal area.
Chicks are hatched at
the ZooAve center in La
Garita northwest of the
capital, San Jose. At
six months, they take a
200-mile trip to the
southern city of Golfito,
then travel by boat to a
beach and finally the
isolated San Josecito
conservation center far
from human settlements.
There they spend up to
three more months in
captivity before being
released.
The parrots, which live
up to 80 years, can
start reproducing at age
7. Of ZooAve's 86
scarlet macaws, 54 are
in the reproduction
program.
Many parrots in the
breeding program were
confiscated by
environmental
authorities or turned in
by their former owners.
Some can't leave the
sanctuary because they
don't know how to
survive in the wild.
"Many don't even know
how to feed themselves,"
Fournier said.
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