Rare Blue Parrot in Brazil

[Wolf]

A rare blue parrot that was thought to be extinct in the wild has been sighted in Brazil. This is the same parrot that was popularized in the animated film " Rio" If you are interested in more information about this here is the link that caught my attention. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/rar ... spartanntp

[Pajarita]

I wonder if it's the same female they tried to breed with the real 'Rio" years ago...

[Wolf]

I have no idea! I did not even know that there was a real "Rio", do you have more on this?

[Wolf]

I found this little bit more this morning, http://www.wuft.org/nation-world/2016/0 ... -15-years/

[Pajarita]

I have no idea! I did not even know that there was a real "Rio", do you have more on this?

I don't have anything 'saved up' but what I remember is this: it happened like 15 years ago or so. There was this woman living in the middle of USA (don't remember the state) who had two parrots and, after one of them died (I think it was an amazon), the other started declining so she took him to the vet who completely flipped when he realized it was an actual Spix macaw because nobody knew there were still any living in captivity and the last wild one had not been seen for a few years then. He immediately contacted the groups that were fighting to keep the species alive and they convinced the woman to give him up. The bird was a male, his name was Presley (I do remember that because of Elvis ) and was actually quite sick (liver and kidney disease - as all captive parrots had back then and as all the old ones still do nowadays) so they treated him for a while and when he was a bit stronger, they flew him to Brazil to see if they could mate him to a female they had. But they never had babies and Presley died a bit after (Spix don't nest unless they can do it in the very specific type of tree they need and that's why all the babies been born nowadays are from artificial insemination).

Here is the video that helped identify this bird as a Spix: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... n-15-years

And they are saying it might be a captive one that got loose (there is a center in Brazil right where the last known nest of the wild ones is that has a couple of them).

[Pajarita]

Look what I found: Presley's story! http://www.barryfhphd.com/parrots/Presley_photos.pdf

[Wolf]

Very cool!! Thank you so much for finding and posting this story and quite the story it is. Although most of it was only briefly described those of us that have had to rehabilitate parrots that come from poor life situations can attest to the time and effort involved and even with several agencies working together to smooth the way, dealing with governmental paperwork and regulations can easily be a nightmare all its own. Great story, thanks again for it.

[Pajarita]

This account doesn't say anything about his liver and kidneys but I remember reading about them back then... and I know he died very young and was not able to reproduce at all. But it still is quite a story.