The largest and most spectacular of the parrots are the macaws of the Amazon Basin and surrounding areas. The hyacinth macaw Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus is the largest of the macaws at up to 40 inches in length, and is found in rainforest areas of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. With its striking blue plumage and huge bill, this macaw feeds on palm fruits and nuts, in swampy areas or on the edges of forests. Endangered by hunting and trapping for the pet trade, less than 5,000 birds remain in the wild. The scarlet macaw Ara macao is a beautiful rainforest parrot found throughout southern Central America, south to Bolivia.
Scarlet macaws eat a variety of fruits, nuts and seeds.
They have become scarcer in regions of human habitation because of trapping for the pet trade. Ara ararauna belong to the same genus as the scarlet macaws. About the same size as the scarlet macaws, blue and golds were imported into the USA and Europe in large numbers in the 1970s and 80s, and so a large pool of parrots was set up from which most of today's pet blue and gold macaws have been bred. In the wild, blue and golds are found throughout northern and central South America. There are over 100 species of conure, grouped into eight different genera.