Macaw Mutations At Adelaide Zoo » Adelaide Zoo

Macaw Mutations At Adelaide Zoo
22-08-2008

About 15-18 years ago when Adelaide Zoo housed a bunch of macaws behind where the lyrebird restuarunt is they had a mutation possibly a catalina or camelot Macaw, either way is was a mainly yellow mutation of a scarlet or greenwinged macaw.

Just wondering if any one knows anything about this bird, has any photos or knows what happened to it...

22-08-2008

i imagine it was lost out into the private bird industry

22-08-2008

Probably not the same bird, but both Auckland and Wellington zoos are reputed to have hybrid macaws in their possession. Wellington's is supposed to be a hybrid Military; I'd be interested to see that one. While I don't approve of hybrids, I can understand why they occurred - with Australia's draconian import laws macaws nearly died out here and hybridisation was often the only way to perpetuate the birds.

Probably the best collection of macaws in Australia today is at the Gowland family's Priam Psittaculture Centre just outside Canberra (which is not open to the public.) They've got species there which you can't find anywhere else much.

22-08-2008

Thirty years ago Australian zoos were faced with seemingly no prospects of bird imports and declining numbers of macaws, and very poor breeding results. For some reason, it was easier to breed hybrid macaws rather than pure species. Australian zoos adopted a deliberate policy of producing hybrids to try and at least maintain some macaws in Australian zoos.

Some North American breeders deliberately hybridise macaws for commercial reasons, and "Catalina" is the name of one of the hybrids, I can't remember which cross, but I'm sure a Google search will find it all for you.

Then of course came mass smuggling, followed by legal imports and better husbandry leading to better breeding results, so there are many more macaws in Australia today. Aussie zoos don't need to display hybrids, but what happened to the birds I don't know.

22-08-2008

I meant to say don't need to display hybrids anymore.

And yes I looked up the hybrid, it is between a Blue & Yellow and a Scarlet. Here is a link:

Catalina Macaw, a hybrid macaw - Learn about the hybrid Catalina Macaw at Judy Leach's Parrots.

And not a mutation!

22-08-2008

Yeah I had a bit of brain fade when posting that i meant hybird

22-08-2008

ive got some info on just how dire the situation was for blue and gold and scarlet macaws in this country in the 1980s if anyone would be interested. it shows age structure, sex and pairings as well as relatedness between birds and ill post if you guys want to read it.
needless to say the macaw population was in quite dire straits at the time

23-08-2008

I would second this; in fact they have a psittacine collection that would rank highly in the UK too. I had never seen some of the lory, macaw and amazon species that Priam houses/breeds in Australia before. Of course many are commonly kept in Europe, but they do exceedingly well with their black cockatoo species (which are rarely kept outside Australia) too.

Nice people too.

23-08-2008

glyn, I know it's probably a chore for you, but I would appreciate it very much if you would post that info. about macaws in the 1980s. THANX.

23-08-2008

Val Gowland would be one of Australia's foremost real breeders of Glossy Black Cockatoos.

And this past season, Peter and Daniel and their team have had wonderful success with breeding Red-fronted Macaws after a long, patient slog.

As tetrapod said - they are genuinely "nice" people who willingly share their knowledge with the rest of us.

23-08-2008

Some of you may be less than impressed to hear that, in the past couple of weeks I have seen three pairs of Blue & Gold/ Scarlet Macaws and one pair of Blue & Gold/Military Macaws set up purposefully to breed hybrids.

What a waste.

23-08-2008

And yes, glyn, I too would be very keen to see data on Scarlet Macaws (particularly) in the 1980s.

Thanks in advance.

25-08-2008

Fancy DELIBERATELY breeding hybrid macaws when you don't have to!
Jeez, that's irresponsible!
No wonder it's hard for responsible aviculturists to be taken seriously by the conservation movement.