Species profile
Cyanopsitta spixii
Spix's macaw
This is a curated published estimate, not a live census. Estimates may refer to mature individuals, wild individuals or a documented range and are not directly comparable between species.
EW · Extinct in the Wild — Extinct in the Wild — survives only in captivity
About this species
Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Extinct in the Wild. Spix's macaw vanished from the wild around the year 2000 when the last known wild bird disappeared — every individual alive today descends from captive breeding programmes. Its recorded population direction is increasing. That is encouraging, but it does not remove continuing pressures or make every population secure.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with terrestrial, caatinga. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. The species became world-famous through the animated film Rio, which brought global attention — and funding — to its recovery. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
Since 2022, captive-bred Spix's macaws have been released back into their native caatinga scrubland in Brazil — a careful, ongoing reintroduction. The catalogue records 3 principal pressures for this profile: Illegal trapping, Habitat loss, Extinct in the wild. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Protecting and reconnecting habitat is a priority, together with infrastructure planning that keeps feeding, breeding or migration routes functional. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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