Originally Posted by Graehstone

Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird

Editorial Reviews
ISBN# 074347550x
From Publishers Weekly
For the magnificent blue parrots of South America, beauty and intelligence have been a curse. These qualities, in addition to the birds' rare numbers, have made the animals highly attractive to human collectors. Despite a ban on endangered-parrot trading since 1975, smugglers have continued to trap and sell blue parrots-including the rarest, Spix's macaw-on the international market. By 1990, only one wild Spix's remained. Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, recounts the riveting adventures of the team of specialists that finally documented the presence of this last wild bird in Brazil's remote northeast interior and launched efforts to try to protect it. He describes the forces that drive the black market in macaws-chiefly poverty, corruption and greed-and notes that "parrots are today part of an illegal trade in wildlife that ranks second in value only to the multibillion-dollar clandestine drugs and arms markets." Indeed, a rare parrot can fetch as much as $40,000. Juniper presents a fascinating overview of the long history of human-parrot relationships, which date to ancient times, and also describes the efforts to breed Spix's macaws in captivity. Juniper is an impassioned advocate for the world's rarest bird, and also demonstrates a deep understanding of the social issues involved in saving endangered wildlife. The situation for the Spix's remains precarious; whether it will share the fate of the dodo or eventually flourish again, as did the almost-extinct Przewalski's horse and European bison, depends on "human cooperation, foresight and generosity."

From Booklist
Blue is a rare color for land animals, and people have placed great value on blue animals since the earliest times. There are four blue species of the macaw, largest of parrots: one is probably extinct, one is extinct in the wild, and two are endangered. Juniper (Parrots: A Guide to the Parrots of the World , 1998) writes about the second species, the Spix's macaw. This species was reduced to as few as 24 individuals living in captivity. The quest to save the powder-blue parrot is revealed in the author's passionate tale of smuggling, politics, science. Probably always rare in their natural habitat, and fetching up to $40,000 on the black market, these birds have invariably been desirable by virtue of their scarcity. Exploring what little is known of the natural history of Spix's macaw, the history of its discovery and attempts to keep it in captivity, and the machinations of the international effort to breed the few remaining birds, Juniper keeps the reader riveted. Nancy Bent



Great book btw!!!

Originally Posted by Graehstone

Great book btw!!!