Size: Length; 76-86cm. Weight; 900g-1300g.

Habitat and Distribution: Swampy forests in South America from Panama south to Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Trinidad.

Age: Up to 60 years.

Groups and Breeding: Blue and Yellow Macaws live in either pairs or large groups. They are monogamous and usually mate for life. Two-three eggs are laid in a nest at the top of a tree trunk and hatch after an incubation of 24-28 days. Young leave the next at around 3 months.

Diet: Seeds, fruit and flowers.

• The Blue and Yellow Macaw is one of the largest parrots in the world, beaten in size only by the Scarlet Macaw.
• They can use their extremely strong beaks for crushing nuts and seeds but also almost like an extra limb for climbing and hanging on trees.
• They are extremely popular as pets and can fetch up to over £1000. Unfortunately this is starting to put pressure on wild populations with over 55,000 individuals wild caught for the pet trade in 2005.
• Cherry seeds, chocolate, avocado and caffeine are all poisonous to macaws.
• Blue and Yellow Macaws can learn a vocabulary of up to 15 words.
• The Latin name comes from the Tupi word "arara-una", unfortunately Linnaeus (the scientist who developed the system of Latin names) got this wrong as it actually translates as ‘black macaw’!