Emily Chan
Scarlet Macaws have personality, flair, and a bright red, yellow, and blue color scheme that turns heads. They also mate for life and are known to form strong bonds with humans when kept as pets.
With their loyal character, charm, and rainbow of feathers, it seems that they can do no wrong. However, these birds are not as perfect as they appear to be.
Scarlet Macaws might make excellent mates and wonderful companions, but they are neglectful parents, often abandoning their chicks.
They tend to show favoritism when feeding their chicks, purposefully ignoring the youngest offspring in the brood.
Scientists from Texas A&M University have come up with a way to compensate for the birds’ bad parenting, ensuring that fewer chicks die from neglect.
Even when an abundance of resources is available, scarlet macaws will neglect to feed their youngest chicks.
As a result, only one or two chicks are able to fledge, which is the process of teaching young birds to fly and survive on their own. Broods can host up to four chicks.
“Scientists have known for years that Scarlet Macaws hatch more chicks than they fledge,” said Donald Brightsmith, a professor at Texas A&M.
“We found that 26 percent of second chicks in Scarlet Macaw broods and nearly all third and fourth chicks die before fledging.”
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