Macaws in Danger of Extinction Reared by Hybrids

Abstract

<p>Human intervention is usually responsible for the creation of hybrid Psittacidae in captivity. This is the core of the controversy addressed in this article. Either intentionally or not, humans create hybrids in the fauna centers and then are mixed with those specimens brought voluntarily by their hosts or as a result from the unlawful animal traffic. This has resulted in the existence of birds in preservation sanctuaries without any concrete purpose. This work aims to report the breeding of macaws in danger of extinction as a tool for their preservation, by using hybrid macaws as substitute parents under a management plan at teh center "La Esmeralda" for rescue, rehabilitation and relocation of fauna in Argentina. Female hybrids laid sterile eggs that were replaced with eggs from other pure macaw species like Ara glaucogularis, A. rubrogenys, and A. severus in the 2015 program. Hybrid parents incubated and raised optimally the offspring and taught them all the tools required for their normal life both inside and outside the nest. This way, the artificial breeding was overcome and the human intervention was removed. At the same time, taking the eggs from the original parents led them to laid eggs up two more times in the same season. These reports are relevant not only to promote the hybrid parent-based breeding but also to appreciate the hybrid birds in the fauna centers</p>