Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogbam Here. Macaw's are giants among birds,
Speaker 1: reaching up to four feet that's over a meter from
Speaker 1: beak to tail. These spectacularly colorful members of the parrot family,
Speaker 1: made up of seventeen distinct species, are originally from the
Speaker 1: rainforest regions of Central and South America. They're intelligent, curious,
Speaker 1: and talkative companions that have been domesticated for centuries before.
Speaker 1: The article this episode is based on, has to Works.
Speaker 1: Spoke with Gregory rich DVM, an avian and exotic pet
Speaker 1: veterinarian who has a twenty four year old blue and
Speaker 1: gold macaw. He said macaws can make wonderful pets in
Speaker 1: the right household. Like many other pet birds, macaws are
Speaker 1: playful and seem to enjoy being trained to perform tricks
Speaker 1: like waving hello or using a skateboard. In the wild,
Speaker 1: macaw couples will live in flocks of ten to thirty birds,
Speaker 1: all of them calling, squawking, and omitting the macaw scream
Speaker 1: throughout the forest. The variety of sounds are used to
Speaker 1: communicate within the flock or mark territorial claims. Individual birds
Speaker 1: even create unique songs so their mates will be able
Speaker 1: to identify them. Some macaw screams can be deafening when indoors,
Speaker 1: so the macaw isn't well suited for people who like
Speaker 1: peace and quiet at home. Although macaus don't have a
Speaker 1: larynx like humans used to create speech, they do have
Speaker 1: a syrinx. The syrinx is located at the bottom of
Speaker 1: its trachea, and when air is passed over the syrinx
Speaker 1: and through the throaten mouth, where that air can be
Speaker 1: manipulated by the tongue, a macaw can mimic human words
Speaker 1: and even whole sentences. And yes, there have been domesticated
Speaker 1: macaws that learned to swear and that then taught those
Speaker 1: swear words to other macaws. In September, a group of
Speaker 1: macaus was removed from the Lincoln she Year Wildlife Park
Speaker 1: in England for cussing at patrons. In addition to being
Speaker 1: for bos, macaws are undeniably romantic, typically selecting a mate
Speaker 1: for the rest of their life. This lifelong mate chosen
Speaker 1: by a macaw is a breeding partner, but macaus will
Speaker 1: also share their food and, much like a couple splitting
Speaker 1: a meal at a restaurant. Macaus also enjoy mutual grooming
Speaker 1: and often ritualize the task by creating specific and personalized
Speaker 1: routines to follow. And when it comes time to lay eggs,
Speaker 1: female macaws incubate the eggs while the males hunt for
Speaker 1: food over a large area. At home, macau's require room
Speaker 1: to roam, which translates into large cages with space to
Speaker 1: spread their wings. Rich said. Some knowledgeable owners dedicate a
Speaker 1: bird room with tile flooring with plenty of perch stands
Speaker 1: or rope perches that can be suspended from the ceiling
Speaker 1: for their macaus. The macau's diet in the wild is
Speaker 1: varied and fresh. They focus on seeds, nuts, berries, fruits,
Speaker 1: insects and stales, and sometimes clay soil to aid in digestion.
Speaker 1: In the wild, macaws will travel long distances up to
Speaker 1: fifteen miles or twenty four kilometers throughout Central and South
Speaker 1: America's rainforests. To forage at home, these intelligent birds require
Speaker 1: not only a varied diet, but the stimulation that comes
Speaker 1: with seeking out food sources. Some macaw enthusiasts train their
Speaker 1: birds to forage for food. They begin by adding several
Speaker 1: small foraging bowls to the macaw's cage, so the bird
Speaker 1: must move around to different areas to find food or treats.
Speaker 1: Once this is mastered, a small piece of paper can
Speaker 1: be placed over each bowl, which the macaw can push
Speaker 1: away to uncover the food. This can progress to taping
Speaker 1: the paper on the top of the bowls. The idea
Speaker 1: is to make each stage of the foraging process a
Speaker 1: little more demanding, both physically and mentally, and some people
Speaker 1: who live with macaus is pets eventually turn them loose
Speaker 1: from their cages to forage around their homes for food
Speaker 1: puzzles under supervision. But let's talk beaks. A maccau's beak
Speaker 1: is so strong that it can easily crush the hard,
Speaker 1: thick shells of brazil nuts, a task that I personally
Speaker 1: struggle with despite having opposable thumbs and the use of tools.
Speaker 1: Macaw uses its large curved beak in conjunction with its long,
Speaker 1: agile toes and tongue to position the food for optimal crushing.
Speaker 1: It's thick, fleshy tongue contains a highoid bone structure that
Speaker 1: changes the shape of the tongue, which makes them one
Speaker 1: of the few types of birds to have intrinsic muscles,
Speaker 1: like humans, the control tongue movement. The good news is
Speaker 1: that maccause rarely use this powerful weapon on people, but
Speaker 1: if they did, they could easily crush a person's bony knuckle.
Speaker 1: For this reason, it's often ill advised to put the
Speaker 1: bird on one's shoulder, as the close proximity from beak
Speaker 1: to face could result in injury. The same goes for
Speaker 1: allowing a macaw to roam the house unsupervised. A Rich said,
Speaker 1: when left out of the cage to roam in the house,
Speaker 1: they can be very destructive. Well, like all birds, macaws
Speaker 1: like to chew so Grandma's rocking chair you so dearly love,
Speaker 1: maybe missing a leg. When you get home, the wires
Speaker 1: to the modem maybe chewed through, or your desk papers
Speaker 1: may be shredded. When macau's hatch from their eggs, they
Speaker 1: have black eyes. As they reach about five months of age,
Speaker 1: their eyes will begin to lighten in color and this
Speaker 1: process will continue for up to two years. Ultimately, an
Speaker 1: adult macaw has a vivid yellow eye color with charcoal pupils.
Speaker 1: This color usually sticks throughout the macause fifty to seventy
Speaker 1: year lifespan, although there are accounts of variations. Because macause
Speaker 1: are more active during daylight hours, they have a flat
Speaker 1: and shallow eye construction to allow for maximum light input.
Speaker 1: The eyes are positioned on the side side of the head,
Speaker 1: which allows macaus to see with each eye independently and
Speaker 1: have a three hundred and sixty degree view of the
Speaker 1: world around them. And while most birds cannot move their
Speaker 1: eyes within their eye sockets, macaws can, which only adds
Speaker 1: to their ability to see their environment without turning their heads.
Speaker 1: Like most people who share their home with a companion macaw,
Speaker 1: dr Rich has seen his macaw use facial and body language,
Speaker 1: as well as vocalizations to communicate emotional moods. He explained
Speaker 1: she delights visitors with a loud hello and will blush
Speaker 1: when she is held by someone she has a fondness
Speaker 1: for macause. With the exception of hyacinthe, macause can blush
Speaker 1: their cheeks a pink red hue, just like humans. This
Speaker 1: involuntary reaction is caused by increased blood flow to the
Speaker 1: veins and capillaries near the surface of their cheeks and
Speaker 1: can be seen because of the absence of feathers on
Speaker 1: the bird's cheek areas. Macaws also pluff various areas of
Speaker 1: their feathers to communicate social contexts. Today's episode is based
Speaker 1: on the article Yes macaws can talk and say bad
Speaker 1: words on how stuff Works dot Com, written by Laurie L. D.
Speaker 1: The brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in
Speaker 1: partnership with how stuff Works dot Com and is produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit
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