In the third liberation of its kind in the Nanciyaga Reserve in Los Tuxtlas, 29 scarlet macaws bred in Xcaret Park were released into the wild. This brings the total of macaws that have been reintroduced into the forests of southern Veracruz to 72.
Similar releases have taken place in northern Chiapas, near the ancient Mayan city of Palenque and the hope is that these colonies of macaws will begin to breed and help bring this beautiful bird back from the brink of extinction in Mexico.
Launched in 1993, the Xcaret macaw breeding program has been extremely successful. It is in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of chicks hatched in a single year; 175 birds were born in 2012.
Macaws mate for life and there are now more than 100 breeding pairs in the park and to date, over 1,000 birds have been raised from four original breeding pairs.
