- Status: Safe
- Evergreen forests from southeastern Mexico to Peru and Brazil
Numbers
- Weight
- 2,2 lbaverage weight of the species
- Length
- 35 infrom 32 to 38 in, over half is tail
- Lifespan
- 45 yearstypical lifespan between 40 and 50 years; in captivity between 75 and 90
- Maximum longevity
- 90 yearsin captivity, compared to 40 to 50 years typical lifespan
- Range extent
- 2600000 sq mithe widest latitudinal range among birds of the genus Ara
- Nestling period
- 90 daysthen stay with parents for about another year
Ten fun facts
it measures up to 38 inches long, but more than half is tail, making it the longest among large macaws.
it weighs about two pounds on average, like a bag of sugar, despite its impressive size suggesting far more.
it has a patch of bare white skin around its eye, patterned with fine lines of tiny feathers.
young birds have dark eyes, whereas adult scarlet macaws develop light yellow irises as they mature.
its loud, guttural calls can easily be heard from miles away through the dense rainforest canopy.
it gathers in large numbers at clay licks, sharing the space with several other species of macaws.
it is the national bird of Honduras, and its striking plumage makes it one of the world's best known parrots.
pairs are monogamous and stay together for life, remaining side by side even outside the breeding season.
in Costa Rica it once covered 16,400 square miles, but by 1993 it was reduced to twenty percent of its historic range.
in May 2013 a team of scientists at Texas A&M University successfully sequenced the complete genome of the species.
The quiz answers
Five questions about this animal. Pick an answer and find out if it is the right one.
Question 1 of 5
How long is a scarlet macaw?
Question 2 of 5
What does it mainly eat in the wild?
Question 3 of 5
How many eggs does the female lay?
Question 4 of 5
How long do mated pairs stay together?
Question 5 of 5
Which country has it as its national bird?
Try it yourself
Take a tape measure and mark thirty-eight inches on the floor. That is the full length of a scarlet macaw, including its tail. Compare it to your arm.
Hold a two-pound bag of sugar to feel how much an adult scarlet macaw weighs, even though it is almost as long as a ten-year-old child.
Color a drawing of a bird using red, yellow, and blue in order: red for the body, yellow for the wing coverts, and blue for the lower back and tips.
Data from Wikidata (Q243761) and Wikipedia (Scarlet macaw).