PARROTS
A SHOCKING CRIME has been perpetrated against one of the world's most endangered parrots, which is facing multiple threats in the wild.
The fascination, scandal and tragedy surrounding Lear's macaw (Anodorhynchus leari), is never-ending. The species was described by Bonaparte in 1856, from a prepared specimen in the Paris Museum. Its origin was known only as Brazil. For more than a century, all the birds acquired by American and European zoos and museums had been given an incorrect origin.
How could it be that a large parrot, over 70cm (27½in) in length, had never been seen in the wild except, obviously, by local people? The answer was that its small area of distribution was remote and visited by very few outsiders. The first clue to the origin
