this is the hyacinth macaw
with a wingspan of one meter it's the
largest flying parrot in the world
its beak is so strong that it can easily
crack even the hardest of shells
although the birds put a lot of effort
into opening nuts and seeds
they don't consume all of them instead
they drop
undamaged seeds throughout the landscape
wasting food doesn't make much sense
especially in the wild
which raises the question are there any
practical benefits
to sloppy eating the pantanal
is the earth's largest tropical wetland
and a stronghold for a rare bird the
hyacinth macaw
the parrot has bright yellow skin
circles around its eyes
and a distinctive yellow patch at the
base of its massive black beak
with its beautiful blue feathers it's a
truly stunning bird
so stunning that the illegal parrot
trade in the 80s and 90s nearly brought
the species to the brink of extinction
hyacinth macaws pair for life
and are in constant vocal or physical
contact with one another
the highly sociable birds take time to
groom each other daily to strengthen
their bond
most couples build their nest in a
teruma tree
this one is 40 years old and has
witnessed many droughts and floods
the parrots are so large they need a
tree of this size to nest in
but big trees are rare just like the
hyacinth macaws
after hatching the chicks grow quickly
on a protein-rich diet
it takes about a hundred days for the
babies to reach a size that will allow
them to leave the nest
until then their parents have to bring
them palm seeds to eat
[Music]
adult hyacinth macaws have powerful jaw
muscles
and their beaks are so strong they can
easily open the fruit of local palm
species
even cracking a coconut isn't too
arduous
but half the food they handle ends up on
the forest floor
a recent study has revealed why they
behave this way
they're helping to spread the seeds of a
total of 18 plant species in bolivia and
brazil
rather than wasting food the parrots are
working as the gardeners of the
rainforest
an international team of researchers
carried out dozens of expeditions
they recorded 1722 seed dispersal events
and observed the macaws flying with nuts
for up to 1.6 kilometers
the results of the study were clear
these macaws function
as a rapid and highly mobile
long-distance air mail service
for palm seeds
and the birds are pretty creative in
their dispersal process
large cactus fruit are carried with
their feet
while they hold smaller bunches in their
beaks
the parrots have also developed
different kinds of seed distribution
they might pick fruit from its mother
plant and move it to another location
or they collect palm seeds that have
been regurgitated by cattle and goats
and leave them elsewhere
the macaws do an important job and the
palms depend on them to maintain
gene flow between isolated groups and to
regenerate
but agriculture cattle ranching and
livestock grazing are causing a decrease
of palm trees
with negative consequences for the
hyacinth macaws food source
their palm seed distribution service and
even their habitat
hyacinth macaws are literally seeing
their natural habitat
converted to farmland leaving them less
and less space
but there are conservation efforts
fighting for these bright blue forest
gardeners
one of them is the hyacinth macaw
project which has more than tripled the
number of parrots in the area it
monitors
this has significantly reduced the
pressures on the endangered macaw
and this conservation work is more
important than ever
because the recent fires in the pantanal
have been damaging the habitat of the
hyacinth macaw and other species
even further as you will see in our next
story