Description: The Blue-and-Gold Macaw is a large, vibrant parrot native to South America, known for its striking appearance and sociable nature. Their colours are said to help them blend into the rainforest canopy (which includes colourful fruit and flowers). Blue-and-Gold Macaws have bright aqua blue feathers on the top of their body and rich yellow below. The skin around their face is white with a striped pattern around their eyes.

Diet: Macaws are herbivores. They forage in large groups for plant material, seeds, fruits, nuts and even clay. Riverbank clay helps them to digest toxins from the (many) unripe seeds they eat in a day.

In the Wild: Macaws mate for life and travel in pairs or small flocks, screeching back and forth regularly to communicate. They live for 30-35 years in the wild. This is half of their survival in protected care where their medical, social and safety needs are being met. Behaviours that are challenging in care are perfectly normal for wild macaws – constant gnawing, repeat vocalisations, bursts of flight. Wild macaws fly long distances with rest stops to eat, chew, and experience the rainforest while celebrating those experiences with each other loudly.

Threats – Macaws often become victims of the illegal wildlife trade - smuggled out of their South American forests to end up in the pet trade. There is an estimated one-million Blue-and-Gold Macaws living in captivity around the world. They are also susceptible to the destruction of their natural rainforest homes. They’ve been wiped out in Paraguay but while populations are still strong in neighbouring countries, they technically do not meet the criteria for further protections.