Spix’s Macaws Known as Famous Blue Bird is the Last Pair in Whole World

Famous Blue Bird in the 20th Century Fox film “Rio,” the Spix’s macaw rose to renown as Blu, a charming parrot who travels far and wide in an effort to conserve his species.

The film’s central characters, Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Anne Hathaway), are rumored to be the world’s final Spix’s macaws (although they are referred to as blue macaws).

But according to a research that was published this week, the Brazilian bird is already extinct in the wild. Eight bird species, half of which are in Brazil, are either proven extinct or thought to be extinct according to a report from BirdLife International, including the Spix’s macaw. According to the paper, deforestation is a major factor in the Spix’s macaw’s extinction from its natural environment.

According to the report of CNN, the extinction rates on the mainland are now exceeding those on islands for the first time.

“Ninety percent of bird extinctions in recent centuries have been of species on islands,” said BirdLife’s chief scientist and the paper’s lead author, Stuart Butchart.

“However, our results confirm that there is a growing wave of extinctions sweeping across the continents, driven mainly by habitat loss and degradation from unsustainable agriculture and logging,” he added.

The report mentioned that, in the 2011 film, Blu, who was raised in captivity, journeys to Brazil with his owner in order to repopulate his species with Jewel, the sole remaining wild female of their type. The analysis concluded that the film was 11 years too late because Jewel was most likely to have passed away in 2000.

That does not imply that birds like Blu are without hope. According to the research, 60 to 80 Spix’s macaws still exist in captivity despite the fact that the species is extinct in the wild.

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