---
title: "What the sources say about the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "47 claims from the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw (*Ara ararauna*)

> 47 claims from the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Blue-and-Yellow Macaw](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/blue-and-yellow-macaw/)

## Ara ararauna (blue-and-yellow macaw). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ara_ararauna/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| riverbank clay licks to eat soil | they consume clay found at riverbanks |
| Mainly rainforest, swamps, and riverside areas across South America, from Venezuela and Colombia to Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay | can be found throughout subtropical and tropical forests, woodlands, and savannas in South America from Venezuela to Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay ... found mainly in rainforests in swampy and riparian areas (note: ADW also names Mexico in this range; no other cached source supports it and the account is old, so it is left out) |
| Mainly seeds, nuts, and fruit | Blue-and-yellow macaws mainly eat seeds, nuts, and fruits. |
| plus clay eaten at riverbanks | they consume clay found at riverbanks |
| adults measure 81 to 91.5 centimeters long | Blue-and-yellow macaws are from 81 to 91.5 cm long, weigh from 0.9 to 1.8 kg, and have a wing span of 104 to 114 cm. (note: ADW's data field gives the same range as 81.28 to 91.44 cm) |
| span more than a meter of wing | Blue-and-yellow macaws are from 81 to 91.5 cm long, weigh from 0.9 to 1.8 kg, and have a wing span of 104 to 114 cm. |
| weigh up to 1.8 kilograms | Blue-and-yellow macaws are from 81 to 91.5 cm long, weigh from 0.9 to 1.8 kg, and have a wing span of 104 to 114 cm. (note: 1.8 kg is the top of ADW's 0.9 to 1.8 kg range) |
| In the wild they typically live 30 to 35 years | Typical lifespan Status: wild 30 to 35 years (note: ADW's prose also says the wild lifespan 'can be up to 50 years'; that record rests only on this old account (and on a student guide citing a 1983 pet book), with no current source, so it is not on the page) |
| Blue-and-yellow macaws are extremely wary | Blue-and-yellow macaws are extremely wary |
| Harpy eagles, hawk eagles, and orange-breasted falcons attack them while they are in flight | Known predators include harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja), hawk eagles (Nisaetus cirrhatus) and orange-breasted falcons (Falco deiroleucus) that attack while the birds are in flight. |
| at any sign of danger the macaws fly into the air screeching loudly | at any sign of danger they fly into the air screeching loudly |
| range across tropical South America, from Venezuela and Colombia south to Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, and in Central America they are restricted to Panama | can be found throughout subtropical and tropical forests, woodlands, and savannas in South America from Venezuela to Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay ... restricted to Panama in Central America (note: ADW also names Mexico; left out because no other cached source supports it and the account is old) |
| living mostly in rainforest, swamps, and land near rivers | found mainly in rainforests in swampy and riparian areas |
| Their day-to-day diet is mainly seeds, nuts, and fruit | Blue-and-yellow macaws mainly eat seeds, nuts, and fruits. |
| in some cases they also eat clay found at riverbanks | In some cases, they consume clay found at riverbanks |
| Blue-and-yellow macaws form monogamous pairs that mate for life and breed about every one to two years | Blue-and-yellow macaws form monogamous pairs that mate for life. ... they breed about every 1 to 2 years. |
| They form monogamous pairs that mate for life | Blue-and-yellow macaws form monogamous pairs that mate for life. |
| Females lay two or three eggs and incubate them for 24 to 28 days, the young hatch blind and featherless, and fledglings are independent within three months | Females lay 2 to 3 eggs and incubate them for 24 to 28 days, after which the young hatch blind and featherless. ... Within 3 months fledglings become independent. |
| When a pair flies, their wings almost touch | When in pairs, they fly close together with their wings almost touching. |
| a pair in flight stays close enough that their wings almost touch | When in pairs, they fly close together with their wings almost touching. |
| weightKg: 1.4 | Range mass 900 to 1814 g (note: task #601; the midpoint of ADW's only stated mass range, rounded. The whole range is inside the engine's Light class (0.1 to 10 kg), so the figure cannot move the class, and the bird tag already put it there.) |

## Macaw. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/macaw

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Like other macaws, it has a dry, slightly scaly tongue with a bone inside it, which makes it a tool for breaking open and eating food | A macaw's tongue is dry, slightly scaly, and has a bone inside it, which make it an excellent tool for breaking open and eating food. (note: San Diego Zoo's page covers macaws as a group, not this species, so the sentence is scoped with 'like other macaws') |
| One long-standing idea is that the soil neutralizes toxic chemicals the birds might eat in seeds or unripe fruits | Scientists believe the soil may neutralize any toxic chemicals the birds might eat in seeds or unripe fruits. (note: San Diego Zoo states this at macaw scope and hedges it ('may'); the page gives it as an idea, not a finding) |
| trapping for the pet trade is a major factor in macaw population declines | trapping for the pet trade is a major factor in macaw population declines (note: San Diego Zoo states this at macaw scope, which is how the sentence is worded) |

## Ara ararauna - Blue-and-yellow Macaw. UWI St. Augustine, The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago.

https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/images/Ara%20ararauna%20-%20Blue-and-yellow%20Macaw.pdf

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| crushes nuts and seeds in its beak | The beak is used to crush open seeds and nuts |
| A beak strong enough to crush open nuts and seeds | The beak is used to crush open seeds and nuts ... Tremendous pressure is exerted on seeds and nuts with their beak. |
| The beak crushes open seeds and nuts and doubles as a spare "third foot" when climbing, and to get into a very hard nut, macaws use the lower part of the beak to file down the thickness of the shell | The beak is used to crush open seeds and nuts (Fig. 3) as well as a “third foot” when climbing. ... In order to crack open very hard nuts, macaws uses the lower part of the beak to file down the thickness of the shell. (note: the filing sentence is worded at macaw scope in the source, so the page keeps 'macaws' there) |
| It crushes open seeds and nuts and doubles as a spare 'third foot' for gripping branches while climbing, and to get into a very hard nut, macaws use the lower part of the beak to file down the thickness of the shell | The beak is used to crush open seeds and nuts (Fig. 3) as well as a “third foot” when climbing. ... In order to crack open very hard nuts, macaws uses the lower part of the beak to file down the thickness of the shell. |

## Bertin et al. (2018). Facial display and blushing: Means of visual communication in blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara Ararauna)? PLOS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201762

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| blushes red | blushing can be observed (rapid colour variation from white to red) |
| bare cheeks that blush red | blushing can be observed (rapid colour variation from white to red) |
| Its bare white cheek patch can flush from white to red | blushing can be observed (rapid colour variation from white to red) |
| as blood moves through the skin | Blushing is reported in 12 different avian orders based on blood flow in vascularized tissues |
| In a study of five captive macaws | Table 1 Age, sex and location of the 5 captive macaws used for the study. |
| observers judged blushing present more often in photographs taken while a familiar keeper was actively engaging with a bird than in ones from a control phase with no interaction | With the animal caretaker, crown ruffling was significantly more frequent when the caretaker was actively engaging with the parrot than during a control phase with no mutual interaction. In addition, a significantly higher proportion of naïve observers judged blushing as being present on photographs taken during the mutual interaction phase than during the control phase. (note: the 'mutual interaction phase' is the phase in which the familiar animal caretaker was actively engaging with the parrot, as the sentence before it in the same abstract describes) |
| The same birds ruffled the feathers on their crown more often during that one-on-one attention | crown ruffling was significantly more frequent when the caretaker was actively engaging with the parrot than during a control phase with no mutual interaction |
| Blushing like this is not reported in the red-and-green macaw, a species that shares its range | facial blushing is not reported in sympatric species of blue-and-yellow macaws like the red-and-green macaws (Ara chloropterus) |
| the bare skin on its face runs from white to red in a rapid color change | blushing can be observed (rapid colour variation from white to red) (note: vibe.reason, task #601; replaces "the undisputed queen of 90s pop energy in the Amazonian canopy" and "instantly recognizable anywhere on Earth". Band, song and genre unchanged.) |
| observers judged blushing present more often in photos taken while a keeper was engaging with the bird one on one | a significantly higher proportion of naïve observers judged blushing as being present on photographs taken during the mutual interaction phase than during the control phase (note: vibe.reason, task #601.) |

## Baños-Villalba et al. (2017). Seed dispersal by macaws shapes the landscape of an Amazonian ecosystem. Scientific Reports.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07697-5

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| blue-and-yellow macaws and two other macaw species are the main dispersers of the large-seeded motacú palm, the dominant tree of those savannas | three macaws (Ara ararauna, A. glaucogularis and A. severus) are the main dispersers of the large-seeded motacú palm Attalea princeps, which is the biomass-dominant tree in the Bolivian Amazonian savannas. |
| the macaws carried 75 to 100 percent of its fruits up to 1,200 meters to perching trees, ate the pulp, and discarded the seeds whole, contributing to forest regeneration | Macaws dispersed fruits at high rates (75-100% of fruits) to distant (up to 1200 m) perching trees, where they consumed the pulp and discarded entire seeds, contributing to forest regeneration and connectivity between distant forests islands |

## Powell et al. (2009). Parrots Take it with a Grain of Salt: Available Sodium Content May Drive Collpa (Clay Lick) Selection in Southeastern Peru. Biotropica.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2009.00514.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| a study of 18 parrot clay licks, or collpas, in southeastern Peru found their soils averaged four times more available sodium than uneaten control soils | Soils from 18 parrot collpas ('clay licks') in southeastern Peru averaged four times more available sodium than uneaten control soils. |
| clay content on its own was not linked to how much sodium a soil held | clay content was uncorrelated with available sodium content. |
| its authors conclude parrots may select and ingest soils based on available sodium content | Parrots may select and ingest soils based on available sodium content. |

## Lee et al. (2014). Diet and Geophagy Across a Western Amazonian Parrot Assemblage. Biotropica.

https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12099

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A separate survey of the region's parrots placed the large macaws at the primary-forest end of a dietary axis | placed the large macaws (Ara) with the Amazona parrots at the ‘primary forest’ end of a dietary resource axis and four smaller species at the ‘successional forest’ end of the axis |
| found the smaller species feeding on regrowing, successional forest visited clay licks more often | these parrot species consuming successional forest resources had higher claylick visitation rates than those consuming primary forest resources |

## Ara ararauna. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22685539A131917270.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-2.rlts.t22685539a131917270.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |
| The species is listed as Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |