The Hyacinth or hyacinthine macaw, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus is endangered in the wild. In 2000, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus was listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Anodorhynchus hyacinths has been listed on CITES as Appendix I since 1987. There are estimated 2500 - 8000 hyacinth macaws in the wild in scattered ranges of Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay.
In captivity, the hyacinth macaw has proven challenging to propagate, much more so than most parrots. All Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus do not successfully incubate their eggs. Infertility is a problem. Weather plays a key role. Parent incubated hyacinth eggs have a significant incidence of dead in shell or disappearance. Frequently the hyacinth parents must"assist" the pipping process. There is a learning curve in which new parents may kill the newly hatched.
When hyacinth macaw eggs are pulled for artificial incubation, there is a higher death in shell rate compared to other Psittacines. Weight loss through the hyacinth incubation is critical. Sudden death in the pipping stage is more frequent with hyacinths than with other macaws. Growth rates of the newborns are variable and largely dependent on the weight of the chick at hatch. Growth rates are slower for hyacinths than for other large macaws.
Although there are probably several hundred hyacinth macaws in captivity in the US, many are likely past their reproductive age. Based on anecdotal evidence, it would appear only a small percentage of Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus in captivity are producing viable young. A few pairs are very productive ,producing a disproportionate percentage of the hyacinth macaw young. Currently there are relatively few F2 and F3 hyacinth macaws in captivity.
Both the American and European Zoological associations maintain studbooks on Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus. Both groups are "phasing out" private participation in these programs. The AZA Parrot Taxon Advisory Group(TAG) has indicated plans to make their Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus program a Species Survival Plan (SSP). In reality, an SSP effectively excludes private breeders for many reasons.
Most Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus bred in captivity are bred by private individuals. Hyacinth macaw propagation is a labor of love. Historically, many private parrot breeders have not demonstrated their ability to keep long term breeding records nor to work together to manage the small populations in our care. Fear of government regulation, security, apathy, and disease considerations have hampered cooperative efforts. Whereas virtually all can agree on the need to collectively manage genetically diverse, captive populations of Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus for future generations, we may not all know or agree on the best way to accomplish this. The purpose of this site is to provide some tools for those aviculturists who may desire to work together for the conservation of the Hyacinth macaws, both in the wild and in captivity. Hopefully the databases will, at a minimum, allow breeders to pair unrelated birds for future propagtion and provide a mechanism whereby breeders can post hatch data to the database without entering personal data.
For security reasons, access to the database information on this site is by invitation only. This site is a work in progress and not yet live. The Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus database includes several hundred birds but many are probably no longer reproductively active. It is far from complete. In many cases, only a band number of offspring is known. A pedigree generation program is include for those wishing to print out same, do reverse pedigrees, etc. It is envisioned the data will be periodically extracted and processed through Population Management programs (PM2000). Mean kindships and similar data will be subsequently posted, updated yearly such that participants may make informed choices in pairing offspring.
Inquiry regarding invitation and access code may be directed to Kashmir .
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