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  • 2019-08-27 (xsd:date)
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  • Has the Macaw Species from 'Rio' Movies Been Declared Extinct in the Wild? (en)
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  • The tribulations of an affable Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) named Blu are the focus of the Rio franchise of movies. Blu in the movie is the last known male of his species, and he must travel to Rio de Janeiro from his captivity in Minnesota to meet the last remaining female of his species to save their kind from extinction. Back in the real world, scientists in September 2018 recommended that the Spix’s macaw, also known as the little blue macaw, be reclassified from critically endangered to extinct in the wild. This recommendation has not yet been formalized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which maintains a red list of endangered species. The organization last assessed the Spix’s macaw on Aug. 7, 2018, prior to the aforementioned study first published online on Sept. 1, 2018. In their paper, the scientists described the last known sightings of Spix’s macaw in the wild: While wild individuals have likely not been seen since 2000, a captive population of about 60 or 70 species in the hands of both breeding programs and private owners still exists. In 2018, the Brazilian government announced that a population of around 50 Spix’s macaws from Europe would be transferred to a reintroduction facility in Brazil: The number of blue-named and/or blue-colored macaws has created some internet confusion about what birds are — and are not —endangered or extinct. A viral meme from the French Facebook page Jadore Les Animaux, for example, shared a picture of a blue-colored macaw with the text: The world is in mourning. The blue macaw has been declared extinct. First, while there are multiple species of blue macaws, blue macaw is not the common or informal name for any of them. The closest match to that name would be the blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna), whose population is not threatened. Secondly, as Agence France-Presse noted in a fact check of that viral post, the species shown in the photo was actually a different species of macaw known as the hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus). This species is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. But because scientists have determined the wild population of Spix’s macaw to be likely extinct in the wild, we rate the claim about the bird species fictionalized in the Rio movies as True. (en)
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