Hyacinth Macaws Run a Unique Seed-Distribution Service | Wild to Know

This is the Hyacinth Macaw. With a wingspan of one meter, it's the largest flying parrot in the world. Its beak is so strong that it can easily crack even the hardest of shells. Although the birds put a lot of effort into opening nuts and seeds, they don't consume all of them. Instead, they drop undamaged seeds throughout the landscape. Wasting food doesn't make much sense, especially in the wild, which raises the question, are there any practical benefits to sloppy eating? The Pantanal is the Earth's largest tropical wetland, and a stronghold for a rare bird, the Hyacinth Macaw. The parrot has bright yellow skin circles around its eyes and a distinctive yellow patch at the base of its massive black beak. With its beautiful blue feathers, it's a truly stunning bird. So stunning that the illegal parrot trade in the 80s and 90s nearly brought the species to the brink of extinction. Hyacinth Macaws pair for life and are in constant vocal or physical contact with one another. The highly sociable birds take time to groom each other daily to strengthen their bond. Most couples build their nest in a Teruma tree. This one is 40 years old and has witnessed many droughts and floods. The parrots are so large they need a tree of this size to nest in, but big trees are rare, just like the Hyacinth Macaws. After hatching, the chicks grow quickly on a protein-rich diet. It takes about 100 days for the babies to reach a size that will allow them to leave the nest. Until then, their parents have to bring them palm seeds to eat. Adult Hyacinth Macaws have powerful jaw muscles, and their beaks are so strong they can easily open the fruit of local palm species. Even cracking a coconut isn't too arduous. But half the food they handle ends up on the forest floor. A recent study has revealed why they behave this way. They're helping to spread the seeds of a total of 18 plant species in Bolivia and Brazil. Rather than wasting food, the parrots are working as the gardeners of the rainforest. An international team of researchers carried out dozens of expeditions. They recorded 1,722 seed dispersal events and observed the macaws flying with nuts for up to 1.6 kilometers. The results of the study were clear. These macaws function as a rapid and highly mobile long-distance air mail service for palm seeds. And the birds are pretty creative in their dispersal process. Large cactus fruit are carried with their feet, while they hold smaller bunches in their beaks. The parrots have also developed different kinds of seed distribution. They might pick fruit from its mother plant and move it to another location, or they collect palm seeds that have been regurgitated by cattle and goats and leave them elsewhere. The macaws do an important job, and the palms depend on them to maintain gene flow between isolated groups and to regenerate. But agriculture, cattle ranching, and livestock grazing are causing a decrease of palm trees, with negative consequences for the hyacinth macaws' food source, their palm seed distribution service, and even their habitat. Hyacinth macaws are literally seeing their natural habitat converted to farmland, leaving them less and less space. But there are conservation efforts fighting for these bright blue forest gardeners. One of them is the Hyacinth Macaw Project, which has more than tripled the number of parrots in the area it monitors. This has significantly reduced the pressures on the endangered macaw. And this conservation work is more important than ever, because the recent fires in the Pantanal have been damaging the habitat of the hyacinth macaw and other species even further, as you will see in our next story.