Summary ⁷

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a large, red, yellow and blue South American parrot, a member of a large group of Neotropical parrots called macaws. It is native to humid evergreen forests of tropical South America. Range extends from extreme south-eastern Mexico to Amazonian Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil in lowlands up to 500 m (1,640 ft) (at least formerly) up to 1,000 m (3,281 ft). It has suffered from local extinction through habitat destruction and capture for the...

Physical description ⁸

Scarlet macaws are brightly colored birds with feathers ranging in color bands from scarlet on their head and shoulders, to yellow on their back and mid wing feathers and blue on the wing tips and tail feathers. The face has short white feathers. This area surrounds the light yellow colored eyes. The long, thick beak is light on the top and dark black on the bottom. The legs and feet are also black (Aditays, 2000).

Body length is approximately 89 cm, with the tail comprising approximately 1/3 - 1/2 of this. Tail feathers of males may be longer than females. Also, bills of males may be slightly larger (Sick, 1993).

Average mass: 1200 g.

Average length: 89 cm.

Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike

Average mass: 1040 g.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/29119468@N08/4462630983
2. (c) Danielle Ross, all rights reserved, uploaded by Danielle Ross
3. (c) Geoff Gallice, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7274/6882419948_f4a3d2a6b9_o.jpg
4. (c) Brian Gratwicke, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/2179063241_cbe02d1f08.jpg
5. (c) Geoff Gallice, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5251/5466059497_79a0f7880b.jpg
6. (c) Jim Webber, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4328079096_96a85ccf51.jpg
7. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara_macao
8. (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/18633850

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• CalPhotos
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Guacamaya CONABIO
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• VertNet
• Xeno-canto

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