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C h i c o s a t t h e C l a y L i c k : C h i c o s a t t h e C l a y L i c k : Macaw Conservation at the Tambopata Research CenterMacaw Conservation at the Tambopata Research Center

Madre de Dios, PeruMadre de Dios, Peru

J o h n B a r t z , S t a n f o r d U n i v e r s i t yJ o h n B a r t z , S t a n f o r d U n i v e r s i t y

Sophomore College 2007Sophomore College 2007

Introduction

Parrots are perhaps one of the most charming and intelligent of all birds, yet they are also the most threatened. All Psittaciforme (parrot) species except four are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna

and Flora (CITES) Appendix I or II1 – the majority of the parrots are either threatened or critically endangered with extinction. Macaws are the largest and the most spectacular or the parrots, with a geographic range stretching from northern Argentina to central Mexico, and consisting of seventeen extant species, one recently extinct in the wild and ten that are critically endangered. Macaw population decline is largely due to anthropogenic reasons of poaching and habitat alteration, and macaws have difficulty responding due to low fecundity rates. While poachers may be tempted to illegally trap macaws for their value on the black market, they are worth much more to ecotourism. Studies suggest that a single bird can bring in $100,000 in revenue during

1 Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Index.

http://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.shtml.

its lifetime.2 One such lucrative species, the Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao), causes tourists and scientists alike to flock from around the world to admire its grandeur in the wild at the Tambopata Research Center (TRC) in Madre de Dios, Peru. By studying the macaws, scientists uncover valuable information about behavior, phylogeny, and breeding habits, thus enabling them to concentrate on specific conservation strategies instead of captive rearing efforts that resulted in a group of birds, coined ‘chicos,’ that cannot function normally in the wild. Macaw conservation at the Tambopata Research Center effectively combines lucrative and informative eco-tourism with scientific research that delves into the behavioral and environmental interactions of macaws, allowing for the creation of effective conservation strategies that protect wild macaw populations instead of relying on captive rearing efforts.

2 Kricher, John. A Neotropical Companion.

Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1999.

(366)

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Discussion I. The Ecosystem

Despite having a wide geographic range, macaws have evolved specific nesting, foraging, and congregating niches, making them very vulnerable to habitat change resulting from deforestation, land development, and changing ecosystems. Different species of macaws inhabit ecosystems including palm swamps, savannah, lowland and upland rainforests, yet in all cases macaws are very dependent on their ecosystem because they have evolved specific nest niches and feeding associations. Scarlet macaws in the Madre de Dios region of Peru are no exception: the single most paramount factor for the macaw population is a mature primary rainforest where the macaws can nest and forage.3 Scarlet macaws have evolved to nest in mature tree cavities with preference to the genus Dipteryx, offering height protection from predators and hard, slow rotting wood. In addition, scarlet macaws, which mate for life, use the same nest site to fledge many generations.4 Thus without a mature forest, scarlet macaws are physically incapable of breeding because of lack of suitable nesting sites. Similarly, the foraging behavior depends of mature forests where macaws can eat fruits and palm seeds. Interestingly, the seeds that macaws eat are toxic – they contain chemicals such as tannins and alkaloids that ward off insects from destroying the seeds.5 Macaws are seed destroyers, and they overcome the toxic chemicals by ingesting clay from the

3 Brightsmith, Donald. “Competition, predation and

nest niche shits among tropical cavity nesters:

phylogeny and natural history evolution of parrots

(Psittacifornes) and trogons (Trogoniformes).”

Journal of Avian Biology. 36: 64-73, 2005. 4 Brightsmith, 2005.

5 Golash, Carrie. “‘Polly wants some poison’:

Detoxifying strategies of Amazon Macaws.” Cornell

University, 2001.

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/adapt/parrot.html

riverbank, or clay lick, which neutralizes the toxic effects. Just as in nesting sites, macaws are very particular about clay lick sites where they will congregate, preferring hard clay with high sodium content.6 Analysis of each subsequent macaw behavioral trait offers new insight to the particular environmental factors that make macaws very susceptible to ecological change. Scarlet Macaws are particularly vulnerable because of their reliance on mature trees for nesting, where other species may utilize other breeding strategies. In all cases, macaws depend heavily on specific ecological conditions, and even slight changes to their environment can have massive impact on a population.

II. Human Groups

Photo 1: A local farmer shows his manioc crop.

6 Brightsmith, Donald. “Effects of Diet, Migration,

and Breeding on Clay Lick Use by Parrots in

Southeastern Peru.” American Federation of

Aviculture 2004 Symposium Proceedings.

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The human groups that live in association with macaws in the Amazon directly affect the population largely because of land use, but also to a lesser degree due to physically trapping birds for the pet trade or their feathers. In most cases the humans living in macaw-inhabited areas rely heavily on agriculture for subsistence, meaning that they have to clear portions of the forest to create fields to grow their crops, which include bananas, manioc, yucca, pineapple, and local fruits. The land development necessary for agriculture directly affects macaw populations, especially the Scarlet Macaws that are so dependent upon mature trees to nest in. Additionally, gold mining operations and other land use can affect the clay lick areas where macaws congregate because the mining activity physically destroys the adjacent shoreline. Another case of human interference with macaws is the example of a small clay lick near the Bolivian border of Peru that attracts critically endangered Blue-Headed Macaws (Ara couloni) and also lies on privately owned land that the owner would like to clear.7 Such loss of critical habitat would be devastating for the population of these endangered birds, but this trend occurs throughout the macaw range. Loss of habitat is perhaps the main and also most challenging aspect facing macaws today because it continues to persist and encroach upon crucial habitat.

7 Torres, Claudia. Personal interview. 19 Sept. 2007.

Photo 2: Macaws prefer to nest in large trees only

found in mature forests, but trees such as these are

often cleared for land development.

Sadly, poachers still trap macaws for the pet trade, despite the international CITES ban that applies to all species of macaws. Unfortunately, the most targeted species are also the most resplendent and the most rare. The Blue-Headed Macaw in particular is a relatively new species taxonomically and has high demand in the pet trade of the USA and Europe, yet the CITES ban does little to protect it from exploitations in black markets and loose control of the border between Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil.8 Further, while a single rare macaw normally commands a price of near $12,000 and sometimes exceeding $60,000, the poacher may only receive $12, one thousandth of the eventual price.9 Not only does the population decline, but also the vast sums money involved do not influence the local person who poached the animal solely

8Torres, interview.

9 Wright, et. al. “Nest Poaching in Neotropical

Parrots.” Conservation Biology. 15(3):710-20, 2001

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on the basis of monetary need. While human groups living in association with macaws may need to clear some forest at the detriment of macaw populations, poaching the birds is a completely illogical practice. Rather, it is an exploitation of poor subsistence farmers and a theft of their valuable living resources. Optimism does exist however, as the situation of human interactions with macaws promotes fiscally valuable eco-tourism operations that make poaching unfeasible. An exciting example of eco-tourism and conscious land use is interaction between the Ese-Eja community and Rainforest Expeditions conservation and scientific research are employed to take advantage of the economic opportunities that macaw and other forms of eco-tourism offer.

III. Conservation

Photo 3: Viewing macaws on a clay lick draws

thousands of eco-tourists every year.

While macaws carry high price tags in foreign markets, they are more valuable both monetarily and culturally to local communities when conserved for eco-tourism. Throughout history, macaws have been of important cultural significance throughout their wide geographical range, evident through macaw feather headdresses, other garments, and pottery artifacts. Additionally, the macaw forms the root of indigenous Amazonian mysticism important in metamorphic rituals and imagery that the shaman uses to manipulate different domains of nature and understand the cosmic view of the universe.10 Essentially, macaws help to provide social cohesion within indigenous tribes, and are equally valuable today because of the monetary value of eco-tourism. Recently, macaw researchers have brilliantly implemented the idea of changing poachers to conservationists, and it has worked. Local people living with macaws are actually the most knowledgeable about their behavior, which was why they are necessary pawns of the black market trade, but it also makes them valuable resources and collaborators to scientific research.11 Eco-tourism brings revenue directly to local communities that desperately need it. An influx of tourists who come to see the charismatic macaws and other denizens of the rainforest sustain the operations at TRC and other eco-lodges on the Tambopata River, bringing money directly to the local economy. Expansion of tourism-based conservation is a very lucrative and effective means of protecting macaw species.

10

Rodrigues, Taisa Figueira. “The Imaginary Body

of the Kayapó Indians.” LISBON Cumulus Working

Papers. University of Art and Design Helsinki, 2005.

<http://tm.uiah.fi/cumulus/img/orig/> 11

Wright, et al.

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Photo 4: Many different species of parrots congregate

at the clay lick each morning.

The Tambopata Research Center fosters ongoing macaw research alongside eco-tourism, allowing scientists to collect valuable information about macaw behavior and develop specific tactics for their conservation. As macaw expert Charles Munn states: "Unless we understand their wild biology, we may not be able to avoid the extinction of species after species of

these spectacular New World parrots."12 Interestingly, no macaw species has gone extinct in the past century, but this fact may not continue to be true for long. The Spix Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) is extinct in the wild, and populations of the Blue-Throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis) and Lear’s Macaw (Anodorhynchus leari) are 70 and less than 500 respectively.13

12

Munn, Charles qtd in Nature: The Real Macaw 13

Avian Web. “Macaws on the Endangered Species

List.” www.avianweb.com/endangeredmacaws.html

Munn is correct in his assertion that the science behind macaw behavior is necessary, especially because, as previously mentioned, macaws are so finely evolved to their habitat.

Photo 5: Natural cavities such as this are ideal

nesting sites for Scarlet Macaws (A. macao).

Researchers at TRC delve into a comprehensive study of macaws by monitoring daily clay lick activity and conducting extensive research of macaw breeding and nesting habits. At the clay lick, researchers census all parrots at the lick and have formed trends that match breeding seasons with clay lick use. The research suggests that peak clay lick use coincides with peak breeding season, January for the large macaws,14 and also that during the first week of chick development, parents feed their chicks almost entirely clay.15 Until this research, scientists did not fully recognize the importance that the clay lick plays in macaw socialization and also nesting and development.

14

Brightsmith – “Clay Lick Use” 15

Torres, interview.

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Photo 6: Artificial nest boxes designed for macaws,

here on display at TRC.

In addition to the information gleaned about diet, nest box monitoring has allowed researchers to create artificial scarlet macaw nesting cavities that they hoist high into the canopy. The macaw population in Peru is not in as threatened as that of Central America, but the artificial nest efforts have proven successful. Scientists have uncovered a great deal of information about the behavior of many macaws, but there exists other species that are so scarce that they could disappear before researchers understand how to save them. One example is the Blue-Headed macaw that occasionally comes to the TRC clay lick in small numbers. A TRC guide and researcher, Claudia Torres who is writing her thesis on the habits of this species, expresses concern that the nesting habits are still largely unknown.

Without research that explores the upland rainforests where the birds purportedly nest, ornithologists can do little to protect this species that reproduces so slowly in the wild. Therefore, in her expertise as well, the science that occurs daily at TRC is extremely beneficial and actually necessary to protect the macaws.

Photo 7: Nest boxes are hoisted into the canopy,

ready for macaw use.

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IV. The ‘Chicos’

Photo 8: Chicos frequent the TRC lodge in search of

snacks.

A controversial aspect of the conservation program at TRC was the captive rearing of Scarlet Macaws that produced ‘chicos,’ or macaws that could interact with wild populations but also were heavily imprinted to and had no fear of humans. The idea arose from the nest monitoring research: a macaw lays a clutch of two or three eggs, all of which hatch, but only one chick survives to fledge the nest. This could possibly be an evolved adaptation to protect at least one chick from predators or to encourage competition in the nest, but whatever ecological reasoning, the end result is that macaws reproduce very slowly because only single chick survives. When researchers discovered this, they decided to take the second and third chicks to raise in captivity in order to later return them to the wild and increase the population. Unfortunately this project also enlightened researchers to the fact that Scarlet Macaws in particular imprint even more heavily than other macaw species. The imprinting may be due to the specific skills that macaw parents teach their chicks, as well as involve the complex social structure inherent in macaw society, but regardless, a new class of macaws emerged that had no fear of humans, and more consequentially lacked the survival skills of their wild counterparts. The chicos alone were helpless, but

interestingly, they were able to interact with their wild counterparts, albeit with minor differences in such areas as ‘clay lick etiquette,’ they seemed to function with relative normality in the wild flock. The captive rearing program has since been discontinued, but over ten years later, some of the chicos still come to the lodge at TRC daily to snatch a scrap of breakfast from the unsuspecting tourist. They also frequent the clay lick, like any other wild macaw, except they have been observed exhibiting obstreperous behavior at the lick site, and also occasionally spot tourists or researchers and fly to perch on shoulders, waiting for a cracker or banana chip. According to some of the TRC staff, the chicos have brought wild counterparts to the lodge, which can be distinguished by a lack of a leg band. Although the chicos were able to interact with wild Scarlet Macaws, this may actually be to the detriment of the wild population. The fact that the birds come daily to steal food from the dining area and sometimes even bring their wild mates is a catastrophic disruption of natural foraging habits that could lead to dietary problems and a loss of foraging knowledge that is passed from parents to offspring. Also, the lack of fear of humans may earn them a treat at sympathetic places like TRC, but elsewhere it makes the birds extremely vulnerable to hunting, poaching, and predation. The chicos would not survive at all in nature without wild counterparts, which emphasizes the need to protect wild populations before they reach a critical level or become extinct in the wild such as the Spix Macaw. Tragically, neither the sixty captive individuals will probably ever grace the skies again because only four birds remain that have ever lived in the wild.16 In this case where no true wild individuals

16 LaFay, Laura. “Sad story of rare macaw’s

survival.” Book review: Spix Macaw: The Race to

Save The World’s Rarest Bird. NY: Atria, 2003.

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exist, any captive breeding program with hopes of re-introduction is bound to fail. The Spix Macaw may very well become extinct during our lifetime, but the point to gain is that it is most important to protect wild populations of macaws in order to avoid what happened with the chicos.

Photo 9: Here chicos seen eating an apple and

drinking water out of a bottle cap. This behavior

replaces natural foraging behavior and is

detrimental to the wild population.

Conclusion The macaw research and conservation that takes place at the Tambopata Research Center effectively couples scientific research and eco-tourism to benefit local people and uncover information about the specific and delicate interactions that macaws have with their environment. The close interaction and dependency that macaws have on their environment causes them to be extremely vulnerable to deforestation and land development. Poaching also negatively affects macaw populations, but it can be stopped by converting poachers into collaborators in conservation. Eco-tourism brings badly needed money to local

communities and also funds scientific research that in turn uncovers additional information about macaw behavior, advancing conservation efforts. Ultimately, it is the most important to protect wild macaw populations through habitat protection because reintroducing captive individuals, as in the case of the chicos at TRC, can actually increase the vulnerability of the wild population to human activity. Although the project at TRC encompasses many of the important aspects involved in macaw protection, the program can be further improved. One critical area would be to improve local education, especially in young children’s schools. In this manner, children would emerge as future leaders in the effort. The lasting protection of macaws also would benefit from governmental recognition of crucial habitat areas, and the TRC research could push harder for government legislation protecting areas for macaws. With the protection of humans, macaws have the potential to catalyze larger conservation projects as charismatic poster animals, and they have the potential to increase global awareness of the complex issues surrounding conservation and development in the Amazon. Although some species such as the Spix Macaw may part from the earth’s biodiversity, it is not too late to save other species on the brink of extinction and to learn from past mistakes. Whatever we can keep intact of the macaw populations, and the rainforest for that matter, will be of incalculable worth to humanity, and we should strive to protect whatever we can so that our descendents can experience the splendor of macaws at the clay lick.

Images Copyright © 2007 Bartz. All rights reserved.

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Torres, Claudia. Personal interview. 19 September, 2007.

Wright, et. al. “Nest Poaching in Neotropical Parrots.” Conservation Biology.

15(3):710-720, 2001.