{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Taxon",
  "slug": "spixs-macaw",
  "name": "Spix's Macaw",
  "scientificName": "Cyanopsitta spixii",
  "category": "Bird",
  "summary": "Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) is a small blue macaw from the dry caatinga of north-eastern Brazil, famous as the species of Blu in the film Rio. Trapping for the pet trade and habitat loss wiped it out in the wild: the last known wild bird disappeared at the end of 2000, and it is listed as Extinct in the Wild. Every living Spix's macaw comes from captive-breeding programmes.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "A dull-blue macaw",
      "body": "Spix's macaw is smaller and plainer than the big macaws. Adults are dull blue, deeper blue on the back and tail, with a pale grey-blue head, bare dark-grey skin around the eyes and a blackish bill. It is the only species in its genus, Cyanopsitta."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Lost from the wild",
      "body": "The species was known for more than 150 years only from a few traded birds before it was traced in 1985–86 to the rio São Francisco area of north Bahia. Just three birds remained, and they were trapped for trade in 1987 and 1988. A lone male was found in 1990 and paired with a female blue-winged macaw; he disappeared at the end of 2000 and has not been seen since."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What it needed",
      "body": "In the wild it lived in caatinga, a dry thorn-scrub biome, and depended on gallery woodland dominated by caraiba trees (Tabebuia caraiba) for nest holes. It fed mainly on the seeds of two local shrubs in the spurge family. Clearing of those riverside woods, together with trapping, removed both its homes and its numbers."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Captive breeding",
      "body": "The species is listed on CITES Appendix I and protected under Brazilian law. A coordinated captive-breeding programme held more than 100 birds by 2015, largely at Al-Wabra Wildlife Preservation in Qatar, with others in Germany and Brazil. Brazil's 'Macaw in Nature' project has worked since 2012 to restore its habitat and return birds to the wild."
    }
  ],
  "faqs": [
    {
      "question": "Is Blu from Rio a Spix's macaw?",
      "answer": "Yes. Blu and Jewel in the 2011 animated film Rio are Spix's macaws, which is why so many people search for this species."
    },
    {
      "question": "Is Spix's macaw extinct?",
      "answer": "It is Extinct in the Wild, not fully extinct. The last known wild bird disappeared in 2000, but captive-bred birds survive in breeding programmes."
    },
    {
      "question": "Why did Spix's macaw disappear?",
      "answer": "BirdLife International attributes its decline mainly to trapping for the pet trade, together with loss of the riverside woodland it nested in."
    },
    {
      "question": "Where did Spix's macaw live?",
      "answer": "Only in the caatinga of north Bahia, Brazil, near the rio São Francisco."
    }
  ],
  "sourceUpdate": null,
  "evidence": [],
  "conservationStatus": "Extinct in the Wild",
  "taxonomy": {
    "kingdom": "Animalia",
    "phylum": "Chordata",
    "class": "Aves",
    "order": "Psittaciformes",
    "family": "Psittacidae",
    "genus": "Cyanopsitta"
  },
  "stats": {
    "weightKg": 0,
    "lengthM": 0,
    "topSpeedKmh": 0,
    "lifespanYears": 28
  },
  "facts": [
    {
      "label": "Scientific name",
      "value": "Cyanopsitta spixii"
    },
    {
      "label": "Diet",
      "value": "Seeds and nuts, mainly from two caatinga shrubs"
    },
    {
      "label": "Former habitat",
      "value": "Caatinga scrub with gallery woodland of caraiba trees"
    },
    {
      "label": "Former range",
      "value": "Near the rio São Francisco, north Bahia, Brazil"
    },
    {
      "label": "Lifespan",
      "value": "About 28 years"
    },
    {
      "label": "Last wild bird",
      "value": "Disappeared at the end of 2000"
    },
    {
      "label": "Conservation status",
      "value": "Extinct in the Wild (IUCN Red List, assessed 2019)"
    }
  ],
  "range": {
    "nativeRange": "Formerly the caatinga of north Bahia, Brazil, near the rio São Francisco; extinct in the wild since 2000.",
    "continents": [
      "South America"
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "citation": "BirdLife International (2026). Species factsheet: Spix's Macaw Cyanopsitta spixii. BirdLife DataZone. Checked 1 November 2026.",
      "url": "https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/spixs-macaw-cyanopsitta-spixii"
    },
    {
      "citation": "Animal Diversity Web: Cyanopsitta spixii. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.",
      "url": "https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cyanopsitta_spixii/"
    },
    {
      "citation": "Tobias, J. A. et al. (2022). AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. doi:10.1111/ele.13898",
      "url": null
    },
    {
      "citation": "Gill, F., Donsker, D. & Rasmussen, P. (Eds). IOC World Bird List v15.2.",
      "url": "https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/"
    }
  ],
  "lastReviewed": "2026-07-16",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/spixs-macaw/",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY-NC 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
    "attribution": "Global Animal Guide — https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/spixs-macaw/",
    "note": "Free to reuse for non-commercial purposes with attribution and a link back to the canonical page."
  }
}