<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" >

	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=parrots&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/parrots/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 29 Aug 2026 01:05:10 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Parrots</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/parrots/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
				<item>
					<title>On an Indonesian island, an ancient ritual evolves to protect an endangered cockatoo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 14:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18135704/KKI_Huaulu_10-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326518</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biocultural Diversity, Biodiversity, Birds, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Over-hunting, Parrots, Poaching, Research, Science, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An Indigenous community on Indonesia’s Seram Island is preserving a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual while helping protect the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo, a new study has found. The study, published in July in the Journal of Ethnobiology, documents how the Huaulu people adapted the sacred Cidaku initiation ceremony in collaboration with conservationists and government authorities. The ritual [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An Indigenous community on Indonesia’s Seram Island is preserving a centuries-old coming-of-age ritual while helping protect the endangered salmon-crested cockatoo, a new study has found. The study, published in July in the Journal of Ethnobiology, documents how the Huaulu people adapted the sacred Cidaku initiation ceremony in collaboration with conservationists and government authorities. The ritual marks young men’s transition to adulthood and traditionally involved wearing the distinctive crest feathers of the salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), a bird found nowhere else on Earth. The Huaulu, one of Seram’s oldest Indigenous communities, regard Seram’s forests as a living realm inhabited by powerful spirits, shaping their approach to conservation. “The use of cockatoo feathers is specifically embedded within this cultural system and is very different from hunting birds for commercial purposes,” study lead author Dwi Agustina, a researcher at Indonesia’s Gadjah Mada University and program coordinator at the Indonesia’s Cockatoo Conservation Association (KKI), told Mongabay in an email. An endangered salmon-crested cockatoo on Seram Island, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Balázs Tisza/Wildlife Messengers. The Cidaku ritual once had ties to head-taking, but after colonial authorities and Christian missionaries suppressed the practice in the early 20th century, the Huaulu adapted the ceremony around hunting wild animals. The salmon-crested cockatoo became one traditional target, with its crest feathers used in the ceremonial puheliam headdress: the white feathers as a symbol of sacred life, peace and community, and the peach-tinged feathers signifying great strength and courage. Over the decades, however, the species has become endangered, largely due&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-an-indonesian-island-an-ancient-ritual-evolves-to-protect-an-endangered-cockatoo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326518</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Seizures reveal macabre grey parrot blood trade in Cameroon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2026 18:50:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/25162156/agp-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321827</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Ethics, Governance, Health, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pets, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The blood of African grey parrots is emerging as a new, macabre illegal wildlife product traded in Cameroon, analysts from TRAFFIC, a nonprofit that monitors wildlife trafficking, reported. This grim trade in grey parrots, an endangered species long coveted by exotic bird collectors, first came to light in 2025, when forest officials patrolling Cameroon’s Lobéké [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The blood of African grey parrots is emerging as a new, macabre illegal wildlife product traded in Cameroon, analysts from TRAFFIC, a nonprofit that monitors wildlife trafficking, reported. This grim trade in grey parrots, an endangered species long coveted by exotic bird collectors, first came to light in 2025, when forest officials patrolling Cameroon’s Lobéké National Park caught trappers with live birds and interrogated them. “Poachers entering the park trap live birds, then kill them, extract their blood and transport them,” said Biloa Donatien Joseph Guy, the park’s conservator, adding that they haul the blood in bottles and jerry cans — normally used to carry fuel. While park authorities haven’t seized blood from apprehended suspects, poachers have been caught with live birds. Further investigations into these cases are ongoing. When last assessed by the IUCN in 2020, grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus), native to the rainforests of West and Central Africa, were declining, largely because of the pet trade. These beautiful, long-lived birds are among the most intelligent animals on the planet, thought to be as smart as a 5-year-old child. These parrots ‘talk,’ mimicking human speech with uncanny accuracy, making them a popular pet. They appear in videos across TikTok and YouTube, further fueling the demand. As a result, these birds have been poached to near-extinction, commanding exorbitant prices from collectors worldwide. Between 1982 and 2001, more than 1.3 million wild-caught grey parrots entered the international trade, according to IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, making them one of the most&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321827</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Black cockatoo species caught in the crosshairs of global race for minerals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2026 14:06:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/29073054/Cockatoo-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318368</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Mining, Parrots, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Environmental organizations in southwest Australia have criticized the Australian government’s decision to grant the U.S. bauxite mining company Alcoa a national interest exemption, usually provided in cases of emergency, defense or national security, thereby authorizing the company to continue its operations despite years of unauthorized clearing in the country’s Northern Jarrah Forest. The Northern Jarrah [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Environmental organizations in southwest Australia have criticized the Australian government’s decision to grant the U.S. bauxite mining company Alcoa a national interest exemption, usually provided in cases of emergency, defense or national security, thereby authorizing the company to continue its operations despite years of unauthorized clearing in the country’s Northern Jarrah Forest. The Northern Jarrah Forest, one of the world’s most biodiverse temperate forests, has faced threats since European settlers first occupied it in 1836. Between 1960 and 2020, 32,130 hectares (79,394 acres) were cleared for bauxite mining alone. As remediation for the illegal clearings, the government reached an agreement with Alcoa on Feb. 18, which involves the company paying A$55 million (about $39.5 million) through enforceable undertakings, including a range of environmental rectification works, such as ecological offsets to preserve habitats and conservation programs for black cockatoo species. Environmental organizations, such as BirdLife Western Australia and the Biodiversity Council, say these measures are insufficient to prevent the extinction of the Baudin’s black cockatoo (Zanda baudinii). The bird is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and it depends on the Northern Jarrah Forest for feeding during the nonbreeding season. “The reason the birds are in trouble is because of habitat loss and habitat degradation,” Mark Henryon, the chair of the BirdLife Western Australia Advocacy Committee, told Mongabay over a video call. “If you take the habitat out, we’re going to lose the birds.” The government also agreed to progress a strategic assessment agreement with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/black-cockatoo-species-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-global-race-for-minerals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318368</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly a million birds shipped from Africa to Asia in 15 years; canaries top the list</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 15:04:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/15120913/Photo-5-yfc-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317571</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Atlantic Forest, Guinea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mali, Mozambique, North America, Senegal, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Tanzania, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Health, Invasive Species, Parrots, Pet Trade, Planetary Health, Public Health, Regulations, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, people buy and hunt nearly half of the 11,000 bird species in existence. In Asia, Europe, and North and South America, songbirds and parrots are highly desired pets. Collectors pay exorbitant sums for rare species or melodious birds to compete in high-stakes singing competitions. Falconers and sport hunters capture or kill raptors. Belief-based rituals [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, people buy and hunt nearly half of the 11,000 bird species in existence. In Asia, Europe, and North and South America, songbirds and parrots are highly desired pets. Collectors pay exorbitant sums for rare species or melodious birds to compete in high-stakes singing competitions. Falconers and sport hunters capture or kill raptors. Belief-based rituals in West Africa incorporate vulture parts. Buyers in North America seek dead hornbills and hummingbirds as home décor. The list goes on. This massive commerce threatens more than 200 avian species with extinction. Now, as online marketplaces proliferate, customers can order a bird with a swipe on their phone from anywhere on the planet. Moving birds around the world also spreads deadly diseases, from avian influenza to circovirus, and when non-native birds get loose, they may proliferate, outcompeting residents. “There&#8217;s a lack of awareness and appreciation for the scale of this trade, and little attention on the impacts that this could be having on wild populations or the risks for the spread of invasive species and infectious diseases,” said Rowan Martin, director of bird trade at the nonprofit World Parrot Trust. “If people are not aware that this is even happening, then how are we going to be able to mitigate the risks associated with it?” In an attempt to understand the scale of the live bird trade, Martin and his colleagues used records from U.N. Comtrade, a database that aggregates information on all commodities traded between countries. The team analyzed live bird imports into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317571</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Open-air markets: hotspots for a lethal virus infecting macaws and parrots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/open-air-markets-hotspots-for-a-lethal-virus-infecting-macaws-and-parrots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/open-air-markets-hotspots-for-a-lethal-virus-infecting-macaws-and-parrots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2026 18:05:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/27001508/1.-Daiane_cortes_ibama-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316394</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Diseases, Environment, Health, Parrots, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In October 2025, environmental officers arrived unannounced at the Parangaba Fair that takes place every Sunday in Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil. The market, also known as the Bird Fair, had a reputation for illegally selling small birds, parrots and macaws. During that Sunday’s operation, agents seized 271 birds and transported them in groups to the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In October 2025, environmental officers arrived unannounced at the Parangaba Fair that takes place every Sunday in Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil. The market, also known as the Bird Fair, had a reputation for illegally selling small birds, parrots and macaws. During that Sunday’s operation, agents seized 271 birds and transported them in groups to the Wildlife Screening Center (CETAS) in Fortaleza. There, confiscated wildlife is rehabilitated for possible reintroduction to the wild. These rescue and rehab centers are managed by Brazil&#8217;s federal environmental agency, IBAMA. Within days, some small, multicolored African lovebirds, from the genus Agapornis began to sicken — and die. Targeted by the pet trade, these parrots sometimes carry circovirus, a genus of viruses that afflict a wide range of birds. It was a growing crisis.“The [seized] birds kept arriving and tests were being conducted, and then they started coming back positive,” said Fernanda Gaia, IBAMA&#8217;s environmental analyst at the center. The diagnosis triggered a red alert: the hundreds of birds housed at CETAS were at risk. Staff isolated the sick birds. IBAMA agents seize birds sold illegally at the Parangaba Fair in Fortaleza. Image courtesy of Daiane Cortes/IBAMA. Then, in January 2026, there was another scare. Two turquoise-fronted Amazon parrots (Amazona aestiva) were diagnosed with avian polyomavirus. This disease, first discovered in Canada and the U.S. in the 1980s, acts much like circovirus. To prevent further infections, IBAMA closed the Fortaleza CETAS to new bird arrivals for 90 days. “With the detection in more species, both with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/open-air-markets-hotspots-for-a-lethal-virus-infecting-macaws-and-parrots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/open-air-markets-hotspots-for-a-lethal-virus-infecting-macaws-and-parrots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316394</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rescued African gray parrots return to DRC forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rescued-african-gray-parrots-return-to-drc-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rescued-african-gray-parrots-return-to-drc-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2025 11:53:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Didier Makal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/21091842/African-gray-parrots-at-rescue-centre_WCS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308001</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Green, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Parrots, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Fifty African gray parrots have been released back into the wild in the Democratic Republic of Congo following their rescue from the illegal wildlife trade. Their release, in the central province of Maniema this October, came after a year spent rehabilitating at a sanctuary run by the locally based [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Fifty African gray parrots have been released back into the wild in the Democratic Republic of Congo following their rescue from the illegal wildlife trade. Their release, in the central province of Maniema this October, came after a year spent rehabilitating at a sanctuary run by the locally based Lukuru Foundation, which has cared for and released around 400 parrots recovered from traffickers. As enforcement of a new decree published by the DRC’s environment ministry begins, the foundation’s rehabilitation centers are anticipating plenty more work to do. On July 31, 2025, the DRC published a decree prohibiting the capture, possession or commercialization of African gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus). The ban was preceded by a similar measure adopted earlier by authorities in Tshopo province, in the northern DRC, whose capital, Kisangani, serves as the main hub for the parrot trade. But a month later, captured parrots were still present in the Ngungwa and Kimwachi communities in Maniema, according to Corneille Kalume, manager of the NGO Community Action for Environmental Management (Action Communautaire pour la Gestion de l&#8217;Environnement) based in Kindu, the provincial capital. “Poachers are still capturing parrots,” Kalume told Mongabay over the phone. “It is good to have a ministerial decree banning poaching, but there needs to be action on the ground to stop people from trapping the birds.” Gray parrots seized in an antitrafficking operation at Lodja, DRC. Image courtesy of Adams Cassinga. Rehabilitation centers for seized parrots The parrot trade is violent&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rescued-african-gray-parrots-return-to-drc-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rescued-african-gray-parrots-return-to-drc-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308001</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DRC finally moves to protect African gray parrots from unsustainable trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/drc-finally-moves-to-protect-african-gray-parrots-from-unsustainable-trade-didier-makal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/drc-finally-moves-to-protect-african-gray-parrots-from-unsustainable-trade-didier-makal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Sep 2025 06:11:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Didier Makal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/23054756/Psittacus_erithacus_-flying-8a-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306397</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Green, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Parrots, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUBUMBASHI, DRC — African gray parrot populations in the central and northern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo are declining. Data collected by patrols carried out by the Lukuru Foundation in Lomami Luidjo, Maniema province, show a worrying decline of 36% in the numbers of Psittacus erithacus observed between 2016 and 2021. In August [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUBUMBASHI, DRC — African gray parrot populations in the central and northern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo are declining. Data collected by patrols carried out by the Lukuru Foundation in Lomami Luidjo, Maniema province, show a worrying decline of 36% in the numbers of Psittacus erithacus observed between 2016 and 2021. In August 2023, the DRC’s environment minister at the time, Eve Bazaïba, signed a decree placing the species under &#8220;total protection.&#8221; The declining African gray parrot population correlates with increasing capture of the birds for the pet trade, which has been steadily rising since 2012. The increase has been attributed to weak control of international trade as well as corruption among officials responsible for regulating trade under CITES, the global wildlife trade convention. Gray parrots seized in an anti-trafficking operation at Lodja, DRC. Image courtesy of Adams Cassinga. African gray parrots were listed under CITES Appendix I in 2016, which should have imposed tight controls on commercial trade of the birds internationally. But the DRC government opposed the listing, expressing a reservation with support — since withdrawn — from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two main markets for bird exports. Kinshasa was supposed to survey its parrot population to provide evidence that exports could resume without causing harm, but to date, no such study has been conducted. Jeff Mapilanga, CITES coordinator at the DRC’s Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), confirmed to Mongabay that the parrot trade was technically suspended pending the population&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/drc-finally-moves-to-protect-african-gray-parrots-from-unsustainable-trade-didier-makal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/drc-finally-moves-to-protect-african-gray-parrots-from-unsustainable-trade-didier-makal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306397</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DNA research changes the fate of the most trafficked parrots in Colombia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/dna-research-changes-the-fate-of-the-most-trafficked-parrots-in-colombia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/dna-research-changes-the-fate-of-the-most-trafficked-parrots-in-colombia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Aug 2025 14:31:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina Alvarado]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/01092231/Red-lored-Amazon-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303588</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, DNA, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Habitat, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Parrots, Research, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Parrots of the Amazona genus are among the most trafficked birds in Colombia. With their distinctive feathers, these parrots are relatively easy to identify by authorities after they have been rescued. But “determining their home territory is a much more complex task that cannot be carried out relying on just the naked eye,” says Luis [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Parrots of the Amazona genus are among the most trafficked birds in Colombia. With their distinctive feathers, these parrots are relatively easy to identify by authorities after they have been rescued. But “determining their home territory is a much more complex task that cannot be carried out relying on just the naked eye,” says Luis Alejandro Arias, a biologist at the National University of Colombia. Different populations of each species sometimes live in various parts of the country. Learning the origin of the rescued and rehabilitated birds is necessary to reintroduce them back into the wild. “Although the law demands that environmental authorities release the animals as close to their origin as possible, it isn’t easy to do so at the technical level,” Arias says. To address this problem, a group of Colombian scientists led by Arias established a genetic database by studying rescued birds of the Amazona genus that had a documented origin. In their study published in the journal Bird Conservation International, the researchers analyzed the birds’ genetics and compared them with their database. This helped them to determine the most likely origin of 156 illegally-traded parrots that had been seized near Bogotá. A seized yellow-crowned Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala) that was part of this study. Image by Luis Alejandro Arias. Technological advances are changing the field of conservation. “As new molecular tools are created, like this one just published, we can go a step beyond,” says Carlos del Valle-Useche, co-author of the study and a biologist with the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/dna-research-changes-the-fate-of-the-most-trafficked-parrots-in-colombia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/dna-research-changes-the-fate-of-the-most-trafficked-parrots-in-colombia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303588</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How drug cartels destroy the last habitat of Mexico&#8217;s thick-billed parrot (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-cartels-destroy-the-last-habitat-of-mexicos-thick-billed-parrot-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-cartels-destroy-the-last-habitat-of-mexicos-thick-billed-parrot-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2025 15:46:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew-James Anthony]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/16120842/thick-billed-parrots-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302325</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Organized Crime, Parrots, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While supporting conservation research in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental with teams from the U.S.-based Columbia University and San Diego Zoo Global, I assisted in work involving the endangered thick-billed parrot. That experience — observing their habitat and the threats it faces — made clear how severely environmental crime and weak governance are driving biodiversity loss. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While supporting conservation research in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental with teams from the U.S.-based Columbia University and San Diego Zoo Global, I assisted in work involving the endangered thick-billed parrot. That experience — observing their habitat and the threats it faces — made clear how severely environmental crime and weak governance are driving biodiversity loss. This commentary is grounded in those insights and calls for urgent global attention. Once, the raucous calls of the thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) ricocheted through Mexico’s pine forests. Now, the silence is deafening. This striking green-and-red bird, once numbering in the tens of thousands, clings to existence with as few as 840 individuals left. But its disappearance signals a larger crisis: its forest home is vanishing. Cartel-led illegal logging accelerates deforestation, stripping Mexico of its last old-growth forest strongholds. Those who resist face violence, even death. Parrot on the brink, forest falling silent One of the last high-altitude parrots, this species depends on old-growth pines for food, nesting and shelter. Its population has plummeted so dramatically, it is now endangered, with extinction likely within a decade if conservation fails. The decline of the imperial woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis), possibly extinct, has worsened the crisis: without this keystone species to create nesting cavities, the parrots struggle to reproduce. But the parrot’s decline signals something larger. The Sierra Madre Occidental, a biodiversity hotspot home to black bears (Ursus americanus), jaguars (Panthera onca) and endemic species, is unravelling. Parrots disperse seeds, aiding forest regeneration. Without them, tree populations decline,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-cartels-destroy-the-last-habitat-of-mexicos-thick-billed-parrot-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/how-cartels-destroy-the-last-habitat-of-mexicos-thick-billed-parrot-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302325</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Back to the skies: the unlikely comeback of one of Brazil&#8217;s rarest parrots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2025 19:27:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/14192226/MAX1351-Enhanced-NR-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297552</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest and Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Conservation, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Innovation, Parrots, Pet Trade, Species recovery, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Parrots numbered 44460 and 44461 don&#8217;t know it yet, but they&#8217;re about to meet the human species — with all the trauma that entails. It&#8217;s late afternoon, yesterday&#8217;s rain has left a swamp on the ground and Leco has already dug his boots into the young guanandi tree, whose trunk he will climb to a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Parrots numbered 44460 and 44461 don&#8217;t know it yet, but they&#8217;re about to meet the human species — with all the trauma that entails. It&#8217;s late afternoon, yesterday&#8217;s rain has left a swamp on the ground and Leco has already dug his boots into the young guanandi tree, whose trunk he will climb to a height of 15 meters (50 feet). Right where, 55 days ago, the two winged siblings came into the world. They&#8217;ve survived possums, hawks and snakes, but they won&#8217;t escape the skillful hands of Alescar Cassilha, or Leco: just a few seconds and the two chicks, one at a time, will end up in a bag that descends to the ground, where other human hands await them. They could be Elenise&#8217;s or Deise&#8217;s, it doesn&#8217;t matter: the trauma is the same, and the parrots respond to it with cries and flapping wings. Number 44460 is the most agitated; 44461 seems more docile. “It must be a female,” says Deise. We can&#8217;t tell: red-tailed amazons don&#8217;t have sexual dimorphism; only genetic testing can find out. But for now, what matters is checking that the birds are healthy, including a thorough assessment where the body, beak, tail, wings and everything else are measured, along with feather collection and parasite research. The two siblings don&#8217;t know it yet, but at the end of this unpleasant experience they will receive a gift: a bird band each, ensuring that if they are caught in the illegal trade, they can be properly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297552</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How ‘country palm’ could help pave the way toward a sustainable palm oil future in Liberia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/how-country-palm-could-help-pave-the-way-toward-a-sustainable-palm-oil-future-in-liberia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/how-country-palm-could-help-pave-the-way-toward-a-sustainable-palm-oil-future-in-liberia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2025 23:49:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Louise Hunt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/18231144/Tree_pangolin_Phataginus_tricuspis_Nyamebe_Bepo_4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294649</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Regenerative landscapes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Liberia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Birds, Commodity agriculture, Endangered Species, Environment, Forest Loss, Forest Regeneration, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Industrial Agriculture, Palm Oil, Pangolins, Parrots, Plantations, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Across southeastern Liberia, oil palms grow wild in the forest. Known as “country palm,” the Elaeis guineensis tree is native to West Africa and treasured by local communities. “In the rural areas where there are palms in the wild, if you want to farm in those areas people will say to you, ‘Do not cut [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Across southeastern Liberia, oil palms grow wild in the forest. Known as “country palm,” the Elaeis guineensis tree is native to West Africa and treasured by local communities. “In the rural areas where there are palms in the wild, if you want to farm in those areas people will say to you, ‘Do not cut down the palm trees!’” says James Otto, program coordinator at the Sustainable Development Institute, an environmental and community rights NGO based in Liberia. “The palm is usable by everybody, it’s not one person to a palm tree.” Harvesting the fruit is traditionally a communal effort, and it’s manually processed into cooking oil and butter that’s then used in almost every dish, along with multiple other household and medicinal purposes. Selling products made from country palm at the local market has long been a source of income for subsistence farmers. “I remember my grandfather doing that,” Otto says. “But it is not only for livelihood purposes, it has a serious tie with our culture, with our way of life.” A woman with country palm fruit that she has harvested. Image by Michael Pashkevich. He cites the example of traditional leaders visiting from other parts of Liberia where there was no wild palm to obtain and bring back seeds, “so they would germinate in their own land areas, so it’s a key tradition for the people of Liberia.” Wild oil palm is not only beneficial for communities, but for birds and mammals too; it’s native to one&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/how-country-palm-could-help-pave-the-way-toward-a-sustainable-palm-oil-future-in-liberia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/how-country-palm-could-help-pave-the-way-toward-a-sustainable-palm-oil-future-in-liberia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294649</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Satellite ‘backpacks’ help keep track of parrot migration in Mexico</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/satellite-backpacks-help-keep-track-of-parrot-migration-in-mexico/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/satellite-backpacks-help-keep-track-of-parrot-migration-in-mexico/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jan 2025 12:18:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/16120842/thick-billed-parrots-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293028</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Mexico and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Conservation, Conservation Technology, data, Endangered Species, Environment, Migration, Parrots, Remote Sensing, Technology, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When James Sheppard set out to deploy tiny backpacks fitted with satellite transmitters to track endangered thick-billed parrots in 2019, doubts abounded. His colleagues were concerned it wasn’t going to work. A vendor he worked with refused to sell him the transmitters, worried it might be a futile attempt. The concerns weren’t unfounded. Thick-billed parrots [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When James Sheppard set out to deploy tiny backpacks fitted with satellite transmitters to track endangered thick-billed parrots in 2019, doubts abounded. His colleagues were concerned it wasn’t going to work. A vendor he worked with refused to sell him the transmitters, worried it might be a futile attempt. The concerns weren’t unfounded. Thick-billed parrots (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) are named after their large and sturdy beaks that they use to break open pine cones and nut shells. “They have a can opener for a face,” Sheppard, a scientist in recovery ecology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA), told Mongabay in a video interview. “We thought they would just rip it [the transmitter] straight off.” However, Sheppard saw an opportunity when a lone bird was brought into SDZWA from another facility. While the bird was under quarantine, he put a backpack on it. Much to his surprise, the bird “ignored it and went on to feed on some pine nuts,” he said. “It stayed on for several weeks.” Four years on, the team at SDZWA along with its partners at Mexican conservation NGO Organización Vida Silvestre (OVIS) have deployed the backpacks on 57 thick-billed parrots. So far, the technology has yielded more than 71,000 data points that have helped the team understand the birds’ migratory patterns and identify habitats that are crucial for protection. “It opened up a whole new world of good decision-making for us,” Ernesto Enkerlin-Hoeflich, scientific director at OVIS, told Mongabay in a video interview. “We were able&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/satellite-backpacks-help-keep-track-of-parrot-migration-in-mexico/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/satellite-backpacks-help-keep-track-of-parrot-migration-in-mexico/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293028</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2025 12:58:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10072028/Hooded-Pitohui-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292804</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off parasites such as lice, ticks and fleas, and predators, including humans. When humans handle these birds, the neurotoxins irritate the nasal passage and cause allergy-like symptoms. Yet even the poison doesn’t seem enough to protect pitohuis from the songbird trade, as new research shows. A study published in the journal Bird Conservation International by a team of international researchers and an NGO presents the first evidence of poisonous pitohuis (genus Pitohuis) entering the songbird trade in Indonesia, which occupies the western half of the island of New Guinea. The researchers find that these birds appeared in the trade in 2015 and have since been sold in bird markets and online platforms, raising conservation concerns about the illegal trade of these birds. Birdkeeping is a traditional practice rooted in Javanese culture, where a third of households keep songbirds. Studies estimate that the island has anywhere between 66 million and 84 million caged birds. For most, it’s a cherished hobby, and for a few, they’re prize-winning contestants in singing competitions. But this penchant for songbirds has a dark side: the Asian songbird crisis. With soaring demand for songbirds, thousands of wild-caught birds are entering the trade in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292804</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Thousands of birds seized in massive Indonesian bird-trafficking bust</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2024 22:18:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/13044125/Prinia-familiaris-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290026</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Indonesia have rescued more than 6,500 wild birds being trafficked from the island of Sumatra and destined for Java, in what’s been hailed as the single largest seizure of its kind in the country’s modern history. Quarantine authorities at the port of Bakauheni in Lampung province, the main crossing point from Sumatra to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in Indonesia have rescued more than 6,500 wild birds being trafficked from the island of Sumatra and destined for Java, in what’s been hailed as the single largest seizure of its kind in the country’s modern history. Quarantine authorities at the port of Bakauheni in Lampung province, the main crossing point from Sumatra to Java, worked with NGO FLIGHT to intercept a truck carrying the birds on Oct. 15. On board, they found 6,514 birds crammed into 216 boxes, mostly tightly packed and taped. They included 257 individuals from species protected under Indonesian law. Kanitha Krishnasamy, Southeast Asia director for wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC, said in a news release that her organization “has long monitored the caged bird trade in Indonesia and massive seizures like this one continue to alarm us.” Experts have long raised alarms that the bird trade, which heavily targets native species, is causing rapid declines in the numbers of various species in the wild, which, along with habitat loss, could drive many toward extinction. “It&#8217;s simply not sustainable and this level of extraction of unprotected species means we have little means to understand its impact on species until it&#8217;s too late,” Krishnasamy said. Keeping caged songbirds is a popular tradition in Indonesia, particularly in ethnic Javanese households. The birds are often entered into birdsong competitions, with champion birds selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Among the birds rescued in the recent seizure, all of which survived, according to FLIGHT, were some of the world’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290026</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Institutional conflict puts successful Spix’s macaw reintroduction at risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/institutional-conflict-puts-successful-spixs-macaw-reintroduction-at-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/institutional-conflict-puts-successful-spixs-macaw-reintroduction-at-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2024 13:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bernardo Araujo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/11134330/ARARINHA_AZUL-820-768x439.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284238</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Caatinga, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Birds, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Extinction, Fellows, Illegal Trade, Parrots, Pet Trade, Rewilding, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the second in a two-part report about the reintroduction of the Spix&#8217;s macaw, a bird declared extinct in the wild, and the uncertain future of its return. Read Part One here. RIO DE JANEIRO — In 2022, the Spix’s macaw, one of the world’s most threatened parrots, started being reintroduced into Brazil’s semiarid [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the second in a two-part report about the reintroduction of the Spix&#8217;s macaw, a bird declared extinct in the wild, and the uncertain future of its return. Read Part One here. RIO DE JANEIRO — In 2022, the Spix’s macaw, one of the world’s most threatened parrots, started being reintroduced into Brazil’s semiarid Caatinga biome. The species, Cyanopsitta spixii, disappeared from its native habitat in 2000, when the last known wild Spix’s died. The reintroduction project in Curaçá municipality, Bahia state, was coordinated by two institutions: the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP), a German breeding facility that currently houses most of the Spix’s macaws left on Earth; and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the Brazilian government agency responsible for managing protected areas and biodiversity. The first year of the reintroduction showed remarkable success, with a good number of the 20 released Spix’s surviving and staying together in the wild, and couples breeding and hatching the first wild-born chicks in decades. But in May 2024, ICMBio announced that it would not be renewing its technical cooperation agreement, or TCA, with the ATCP, which ended in June. The move came as a shock to the conservationists involved in the reintroduction, and threw the future of the promising program into doubt. “[I’m] really perplexed by the decision of Brazilian authorities to no longer renew the agreement with ACTP. There is no biological reason for that decision,” says Thomas White from the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/institutional-conflict-puts-successful-spixs-macaw-reintroduction-at-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/institutional-conflict-puts-successful-spixs-macaw-reintroduction-at-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284238</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For ‘extinct’ Spix’s macaw, successful comeback is overshadowed by uncertainty</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/for-extinct-spixs-macaw-successful-comeback-is-overshadowed-by-uncertainty/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/for-extinct-spixs-macaw-successful-comeback-is-overshadowed-by-uncertainty/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2024 13:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bernardo Araujo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/11121137/ARARINHA_AZUL-795-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284219</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Caatinga, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Birds, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Extinction, Fellows, Illegal Trade, Parrots, Pet Trade, Rewilding, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is the first in a two-part report about the reintroduction of the Spix&#8217;s macaw, a bird declared extinct in the wild, and the uncertain future of its return. Read Part Two here. RIO DE JANEIRO — On May 24 this year, Ugo Vercillo woke up to a piece of amazing news: two parrot fledglings, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is the first in a two-part report about the reintroduction of the Spix&#8217;s macaw, a bird declared extinct in the wild, and the uncertain future of its return. Read Part Two here. RIO DE JANEIRO — On May 24 this year, Ugo Vercillo woke up to a piece of amazing news: two parrot fledglings, born in the wild in Curaçá municipality, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, had taken flight for the first time. These weren’t just any parrots; they were Spix’s macaws (Cyanopsitta spixii), one of the world’s most threatened species, with its few living individuals all confined to captive facilities around the world. Or at least they were, prior to 2022. Now, 11 of these stunning blue birds are flying free again in the semiarid Caatinga biome of northern Bahia, and hatching a new generation of wild macaws, a testament to an intensive conservation effort that some consider — at least as far as parrots are concerned — the most successful ever attempted. Vercillo, the technical director of Blue Sky Caatinga, a conservation organization focused on restoring Caatinga ecosystems and closely involved in the Spix’s macaw reintroduction, says the young birds that left the nest in May weren’t the first wild hatchlings born from the program. That first batch, a duo born in 2023, died before being able to fly. So when Vercillo and other conservationists discovered a new clutch of eggs earlier this year, they were determined to act. &#8220;We had to intervene,” Vercillo tells Mongabay.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/for-extinct-spixs-macaw-successful-comeback-is-overshadowed-by-uncertainty/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/for-extinct-spixs-macaw-successful-comeback-is-overshadowed-by-uncertainty/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284219</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In eastern Indonesia, forest bird trade flies quietly under social media radar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-eastern-indonesia-forest-bird-trade-flies-quietly-under-social-media-radar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-eastern-indonesia-forest-bird-trade-flies-quietly-under-social-media-radar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jun 2024 17:03:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Riza Salman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/11122506/Investigating-Illegal-Bent-Beak-Routes-in-Sulawesi-1-Mongabay.co_.id_-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283098</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Southeast Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Endangered Species, Illegal Trade, Mining, Parrots, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KENDARI, Indonesia — In 2021, as the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, Irwan watched online as a flurry of new social media groups dedicated to parrots sprang up across Indonesia. When Irwan, whose name Mongabay has changed to protect his identity, first began participating in these online marketplaces, he saw a rainbow of parrot [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KENDARI, Indonesia — In 2021, as the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, Irwan watched online as a flurry of new social media groups dedicated to parrots sprang up across Indonesia. When Irwan, whose name Mongabay has changed to protect his identity, first began participating in these online marketplaces, he saw a rainbow of parrot species offered for as little as $15 a bird, but with little further information about the species. Two years later, after careful research, Irwan helped uncover a diffuse network of operators quietly transporting rare birds from eastern Indonesia for sale. He set out to establish whether the birds were bred in captivity or plucked from protected forests around the industrial boomtown of Kendari, his home in Southeast Sulawesi province. “This was never detailed,” Irwan told Mongabay Indonesia. “That’s what interested me about it.” Illegal trade in wildlife around the world is worth up to $23 billion each year, with one out of four global bird and mammal species falling victim to the business, according to BirdLife International. As in other criminal enterprises, researchers emphasize that the true extent of the illegal trade dwarfs the number of seizures by authorities. Formerly imported to Europe as pets during colonial times, yellow-crested cockatoos — now endangered — are endemic to islands in eastern Indonesia. Image by Sham Edmond/Flickr. Much of the trade is conducted on social media. In 2016, Facebook partnered with WWF and other environmental groups to form the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, aiming to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-eastern-indonesia-forest-bird-trade-flies-quietly-under-social-media-radar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-eastern-indonesia-forest-bird-trade-flies-quietly-under-social-media-radar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283098</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>EU’s legal loophole feeds gray market for world’s rarest parrot</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/eus-legal-loophole-feeds-gray-market-for-worlds-rarest-parrot/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/eus-legal-loophole-feeds-gray-market-for-worlds-rarest-parrot/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jan 2024 13:55:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Brendan Borrell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/17113400/spixs-macaw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277683</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Extinction, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Parrots, Poaching, Rainforests, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bianca’s Bird Farm sits on a two-lane country road outside of the city of Antwerp in Belgium. There’s no sign out front, just a keypad and a video camera. A wooden gate and tall hedges block the view, but if you pass through to the aviaries in back, you may just get a glimpse of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bianca’s Bird Farm sits on a two-lane country road outside of the city of Antwerp in Belgium. There’s no sign out front, just a keypad and a video camera. A wooden gate and tall hedges block the view, but if you pass through to the aviaries in back, you may just get a glimpse of one of the most threatened parrots on Earth: the Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), a brilliant blue bird from Brazil that’s currently considered extinct in the wild. The farm’s owners have acquired six of them in recent years, despite an international ban on the species’ commercial trade. In fact, European wildlife officials approved the deal that brought them there. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international treaty from 1973, was supposed to prevent such transfers from taking place, conservationists say. All of the world’s Spix’s macaws, some 200 birds, are thought to be descended from seven individuals that were likely snatched from their tree-hole nests in northeastern Brazil and smuggled out of the country. When CITES came into force, the Spix’s macaw was one of the first animals on the list. From then on, the birds could only be moved across international borders with a permit for specific purposes, such as scientific research, zoological exhibitions, or conservation programs. The Spix&#8217;s macaw is one of the rarest birds in the world: it is estimated that there are only 177 captive individuals in the world. The species was declared extinct in the wild in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/eus-legal-loophole-feeds-gray-market-for-worlds-rarest-parrot/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/eus-legal-loophole-feeds-gray-market-for-worlds-rarest-parrot/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277683</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More capacity building funds needed for small nonprofit conservation groups (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/more-capacity-building-funds-needed-for-small-nonprofit-conservation-groups-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/more-capacity-building-funds-needed-for-small-nonprofit-conservation-groups-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2023 21:20:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gail Koelln]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/20204027/Suriname-Steveo-in-Boat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274489</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Commentary, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Finance, Funding, Global Environmental Crisis, Parrots, philanthropy, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I have worked as a grant writing professional for about 24 years and am also the part-time co-director of a small, U.S.-based wildlife conservation nonprofit called One Earth Conservation (OEC) that focuses on the conservation of wild parrots in the Americas. As a grant writing consultant, I serve nonprofit clients in a variety of fields, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I have worked as a grant writing professional for about 24 years and am also the part-time co-director of a small, U.S.-based wildlife conservation nonprofit called One Earth Conservation (OEC) that focuses on the conservation of wild parrots in the Americas. As a grant writing consultant, I serve nonprofit clients in a variety of fields, such as animal welfare, the environment, arts, youth education and development, health, and serving people with disabilities. With this unique perspective, and at a time of massive biodiversity loss, I believe it’s urgent that small and nimble wildlife conservation nonprofits receive more support. Yet, I have noted many striking things about the wildlife conservation field. It is, arguably, one of the most important issues needing attention in a world where a sixth mass extinction event is already underway. Yet, funding in this sector is pathetically paltry, with limited numbers of foundations and corporations supporting conservation as a way to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. Even government funding is mostly restricted to grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and small departments within local state environmental agencies, with very few exceptions. The silver lining is that government grants can provide substantial funding that most other funders do not offer. Parrots at a clay lick in Yasuní National Park. Image by Doug Greenberg via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). In addition, Allison Smith of Neon One wrote the following about how much individuals in the U.S. donated to environmental and animal welfare organizations in 2021: “Giving USA&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/more-capacity-building-funds-needed-for-small-nonprofit-conservation-groups-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/more-capacity-building-funds-needed-for-small-nonprofit-conservation-groups-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274489</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Habitat loss, climate change send hyacinth macaw reeling back into endangered status</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/habitat-loss-climate-change-send-hyacinth-macaw-reeling-back-into-endangered-status/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/habitat-loss-climate-change-send-hyacinth-macaw-reeling-back-into-endangered-status/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2022 13:47:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jenny Gonzales]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/04132636/4-the-big-blue-macaws-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257961</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Parrots, Rainforests, Savannas, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Wetlands, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Less than a decade since conservation actions helped pull the hyacinth macaw out of Brazil’s endangered species list, the iconic cobalt-blue bird is back in the red, driven there by the loss of its habitat and a changing climate. Brazil’s National Center for Research and Conservation of Wild Birds (Cemave) updated the bird&#8217;s category, from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Less than a decade since conservation actions helped pull the hyacinth macaw out of Brazil’s endangered species list, the iconic cobalt-blue bird is back in the red, driven there by the loss of its habitat and a changing climate. Brazil’s National Center for Research and Conservation of Wild Birds (Cemave) updated the bird&#8217;s category, from vulnerable, at the end of April, following an assessment conducted with outside experts of the species’ extinction risk based on IUCN Red List criteria. The hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) remains in the vulnerable category on the IUCN Red List, which assesses its conservation status across its global range, which includes Bolivia and Paraguay. The change to endangered status in Brazil isn’t official yet. Cemave still needs to submit its findings to the National Biodiversity Commission for analysis and approval of the change to the hyacinth macaw’s place in the National List of Endangered Species. There’s no deadline, however, for these steps to be completed. The last edition of the list was published on June 7, and includes species that were assessed between 2015 and May 2021. &#8220;That year, the data showed that the conservation efforts, carried out especially by the Hyacinth Macaw Institute, were keeping the largest population of this species, located in the Pantanal biome, in a safer condition,&#8221; Priscilla do Amaral, the Cemave coordinator, told Mongabay by phone. &#8220;It is not comfortable being in the vulnerable category, but compared to the previous situation, we had a more optimistic scenario.” Hyacinth macaws at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/habitat-loss-climate-change-send-hyacinth-macaw-reeling-back-into-endangered-status/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/habitat-loss-climate-change-send-hyacinth-macaw-reeling-back-into-endangered-status/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257961</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Parrots of the Caribbean: Birding tourism offers hope for threatened species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/parrots-of-the-caribbean-birding-tourism-offers-hope-for-threatened-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/parrots-of-the-caribbean-birding-tourism-offers-hope-for-threatened-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2022 19:19:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Kleinhenz]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/29182501/BirderinDominica-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257768</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Caribbean, Latin America, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Critically Endangered Species, Disasters, Ecotourism, Endangered Species, Extinction, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Parrots, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Tourism, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JENNINGS MOUNTAIN, St. Vincent and the Grenadines — The destruction was terrible, but the silence was even worse. Yvette Pereira had just walked up the road to the farm she owned on St. Vincent, an island located between St. Lucia, Grenada and Barbados in the Lesser Antilles. “It was like in a nightmare. It was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JENNINGS MOUNTAIN, St. Vincent and the Grenadines — The destruction was terrible, but the silence was even worse. Yvette Pereira had just walked up the road to the farm she owned on St. Vincent, an island located between St. Lucia, Grenada and Barbados in the Lesser Antilles. “It was like in a nightmare. It was all gray and no green. I heard nothing,” Pereira recounted. A couple of days before, on April 9, 2021, a volcano named La Soufrière erupted and blanketed much of the island in ash. The small river that normally gurgled through Pereira’s property ceased to flow, trees were snapped in two, and several of her farm animals were killed. But it was the parrots that worried Pereira the most. “Normally I drive up, open my door, and am hearing parrots. I thought, where are the parrots?” Pereira had cause for concern. The parrots that she was so accustomed to seeing weren’t the kind of parrots found at the pet shop, or even in most zoos. These were St. Vincent parrots (Amazona guildingii), a dazzling species with colors like a sunset. The species, endemic to this island that measures just 29 kilometers long and 18 across (18 by 11 miles), is one of four parrot species restricted to only one island in the string of islands known as the Lesser Antilles. All are considered threatened species on the IUCN Red List (three are vulnerable and one is critically-endangered). A St. Vincent parrot perches in a tree above&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/parrots-of-the-caribbean-birding-tourism-offers-hope-for-threatened-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/parrots-of-the-caribbean-birding-tourism-offers-hope-for-threatened-species/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257768</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Home away from home: Researchers trial artificial nests for Lilian’s lovebirds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/home-away-from-home-researchers-trial-artificial-nests-for-lilians-lovebirds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/home-away-from-home-researchers-trial-artificial-nests-for-lilians-lovebirds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2022 06:32:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/23143533/1-Lilians-lovebirds-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257630</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Malawi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, forest degradation, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Logging, Parrots, Research, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The screechy, chirruping notes of Lilian’s lovebirds are the dominant music in the air on a sunny June afternoon in an expanse of mopane forest deep in Malawi&#8217;s Liwonde National Park. These gregarious little parrots are found in mature mopane forests throughout the Zambezi River Basin. Conservationists concerned about widespread and ongoing degradation of their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The screechy, chirruping notes of Lilian’s lovebirds are the dominant music in the air on a sunny June afternoon in an expanse of mopane forest deep in Malawi&#8217;s Liwonde National Park. These gregarious little parrots are found in mature mopane forests throughout the Zambezi River Basin. Conservationists concerned about widespread and ongoing degradation of their habitat are calling for greater protection of these forests — and trialing artificial homes that could help the birds survive while damaged portions recover. These lovebirds (Agapornis lilianae) are “mopane specialists,” according to Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa, a researcher and lecturer in ecology at the Malawi University of Science and Technology. “Mopane woodland is their village,” she says. “The big, mature trees, otherwise known as cathedral mopane among ecologists, have cavities in which these birds roost and breed. In addition, mopane woodlands come with a foraging habitat for the birds which feed on seeds, fruits and flowers.” Mature stands of mopane (Colophospermum mopane) are found across a wide belt of Southern Africa, thriving in hot, relatively dry lowlands from Angola and Namibia in the west, through Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and into Malawi and Mozambique in the east. But in many places, the trees are falling to both licensed and unlicensed logging for timber and charcoal. “In our studies of the birds in Zambia,” Mzumara-Gawa tells Mongabay, “we found cases where they took up cavities in trees such as Combretum and Faidherbia albida species; but that was only because of the deforestation problem with mopane.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/home-away-from-home-researchers-trial-artificial-nests-for-lilians-lovebirds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/home-away-from-home-researchers-trial-artificial-nests-for-lilians-lovebirds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257630</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study shines light, and raises alarm, over online trade of West African birds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-shines-light-and-raises-alarm-over-online-trade-of-west-african-birds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-shines-light-and-raises-alarm-over-online-trade-of-west-african-birds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2022 10:06:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/23092731/7-West-African-birds-trade-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257620</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Illegal Wildlife Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Parrots, Research, Social Media, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With its bright green plumage and range of vocalizations, the rose-ringed parakeet is one of the most sought-after birds in the pet trade. To supply ongoing demand for these birds, traders capture them from their native ranges in parts of Africa and Asia, then sell them to buyers across the world. The rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With its bright green plumage and range of vocalizations, the rose-ringed parakeet is one of the most sought-after birds in the pet trade. To supply ongoing demand for these birds, traders capture them from their native ranges in parts of Africa and Asia, then sell them to buyers across the world. The rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) has been so widely trafficked that, in 1976, countries moved to list the species on Appendix III of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, in an effort to monitor and regulate the trade. But in 2007, CITES delisted the rose-ringed parakeet, along with 115 other wild bird species found in West Africa, possibly in response to the European Union banning the import of wild-caught birds in 2005, experts say. While the EU ban did reduce some trade, experts say that sales are picking up in the Middle East and South Asia, and that the lack of CITES regulations has made it very difficult to monitor the trade, particularly when it comes to birds originating from West Africa. “We know that the unsustainable trade in wild birds from the region has caused populations of some species to collapse but for most species there is essentially no monitoring of populations in the wild,” Rowan Martin, a wild bird expert who holds positions at both the Centre of Excellence at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology and the World Parrot Trust, told Mongabay in an email. “We simply don’t know if the trade in these species is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-shines-light-and-raises-alarm-over-online-trade-of-west-african-birds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/study-shines-light-and-raises-alarm-over-online-trade-of-west-african-birds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257620</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chile’s burrowing parrot marks 35 years of a slow but successful recovery</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/chiles-burrowing-parrot-marks-35-years-of-a-slow-but-successful-recovery/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/chiles-burrowing-parrot-marks-35-years-of-a-slow-but-successful-recovery/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Nov 2021 12:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alejandra Olguín]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/24114824/Eduardo-Pavez-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249842</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Chile and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Endangered Species, Environment, Parrots, Protected Areas, Solutions, Species recovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The story of Cristián Bonacic and Río de los Cipreses National Reserve is, in a way, a story of love at first sight: they “met” in the summer of 1986, when Bonacic was studying veterinary medicine and the 38,000 hectares (93,900 acres) of foothills had not yet been officially declared a reserve. Since then, their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The story of Cristián Bonacic and Río de los Cipreses National Reserve is, in a way, a story of love at first sight: they “met” in the summer of 1986, when Bonacic was studying veterinary medicine and the 38,000 hectares (93,900 acres) of foothills had not yet been officially declared a reserve. Since then, their lives have been intertwined. At first, Bonacic wanted to observe, count, and record animals. In those years, having adequate clothing and equipment was difficult and expensive. Besides, he knew little about the wildlife and even less about mountains. He pitched a tent directly on top of a damp meadow, and his thin sleeping bag did not keep him warm. “I used to sleep for a little while in the mornings, when the sun beat down on the tent.” he says. In the higher part of the mountain range, which is representative of central Chile, Bonacic searched for the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), a close relative of the llama. Down in the Cachapoal River Basin, he dedicated days to counting burrowing parrots (Cyanoliseus patagonus bloxami), which were louder and easier to find than guanacos. However, the outlook was discouraging. There were only 217 parrots, and Chile’s National Forest Corporation (CONAF) estimated that there were 3,300 in the country. The flocks of parrots that had previously inhabited the land between the provinces of Copiapó and Valdivia, which sit 1,500 kilometers (about 930 miles) apart, were now reduced to fragmented populations. Before the end of that initial visit, park&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/chiles-burrowing-parrot-marks-35-years-of-a-slow-but-successful-recovery/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/chiles-burrowing-parrot-marks-35-years-of-a-slow-but-successful-recovery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249842</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>CSI, but for parrots: Study applies criminological tool CRAAVED to wildlife trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/csi-but-for-parrots-study-applies-criminological-tool-craaved-to-wildlife-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/csi-but-for-parrots-study-applies-criminological-tool-craaved-to-wildlife-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jun 2021 14:19:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Grace DungeyNick Rodway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/07141532/parrot-cage-indonesia-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243380</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Crime, data, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Hunting, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Pets, Poaching, Research, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Parrots, inhabiting pan-tropical and temperate regions across the world, are highly sought after as pets due to their attractive colors, calls and clever nature. But some of the trade in these birds involves the illicit market, a significant concern with nearly one-third of the 400 known parrot species at risk of extinction. A recent study published [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Parrots, inhabiting pan-tropical and temperate regions across the world, are highly sought after as pets due to their attractive colors, calls and clever nature. But some of the trade in these birds involves the illicit market, a significant concern with nearly one-third of the 400 known parrot species at risk of extinction. A recent study published in Biological Conservation applies a criminological model known as CRAAVED to shed new light on key drivers of the illegal parrot trade in Indonesia. The country has the highest diversity of parrot species, with 89 currently recorded, including the critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea), endangered purple-naped lory (Lorius domicella), and vulnerable salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis). CRAAVED is an acronym for seven factors influencing wildlife trade: concealable, removable, accessible, abundant, valuable, enjoyable, and disposable. Originally developed in the 1990s, the model is used to help understand theft variation of commonly stolen products; in this case, parrots. According to the study, parrots form the most traded animal taxon, and therefore may provide “some of the best sources of data for investigating the causes and consequences of the animal trade.” The research team used six market and seizure data sources collected over a period of two decades, 1997 to 2018, from six provinces across Indonesia. The data sets indicated consistent trends in illegal trade practices for parrot species common to each province. Through the application of the CRAAVED model, the multinational research team identified three main factors that explained the differences between how and why certain species were targeted more than others in Indonesia: how accessible parrot&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/csi-but-for-parrots-study-applies-criminological-tool-craaved-to-wildlife-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/csi-but-for-parrots-study-applies-criminological-tool-craaved-to-wildlife-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-243380</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s pivot to plantations may be too late for nearly extinct parrots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/australias-pivot-to-plantations-may-be-too-slow-for-nearly-extinct-parrots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/australias-pivot-to-plantations-may-be-too-slow-for-nearly-extinct-parrots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Apr 2021 22:28:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Rodway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/05222859/2018-09-27_SwiftParrot1-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241347</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Green, Habitat Loss, Logging, Parrots, Plantations, Timber, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HOBART, Australia — A dividing line of marking tape separates a clearcut area from intact native forest in the Denison Range of Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost state. An hour’s drive from the state capital, Hobart, the forest sits just outside the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Na UNESCO site. The logged area is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HOBART, Australia — A dividing line of marking tape separates a clearcut area from intact native forest in the Denison Range of Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost state. An hour’s drive from the state capital, Hobart, the forest sits just outside the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Na UNESCO site. The logged area is a scene of destruction, having been burnt after harvest. Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT), a state-owned business enterprise responsible for Tasmania’s public production forests, does this, it says, to reduce fuel levels and create a nutrient rich seedbed for forest regeneration. Amongst a small patch of debris, there are the blackened stumps of six stringybark trees (Eucalyptus ovata). One of the trunks lies where it has been felled. “This huge tree may have been five hundred years old,” says Bob Brown, former leader of the Australian Greens political party and founder of conservation organization Bob Brown Foundation (BBF). “It wasn’t even utilized by the logging industry. It was destroyed for nothing, burnt with a substance like napalm.” Dr. Bob Brown, former leader of the Australian Greens and founder of conservation organization the Bob Brown Foundation, stands next to a logged old growth stringybark tree (Eucalyptus ovata). Image by Nick Rodway for Mongabay. Brown walks beyond the clear fell area into the dense vegetation that borders it. Arriving at a grove rich with temperate rainforest plants, such as sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum) and celerytop pine (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius), he lists off a number of the endangered species that rely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/australias-pivot-to-plantations-may-be-too-slow-for-nearly-extinct-parrots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/australias-pivot-to-plantations-may-be-too-slow-for-nearly-extinct-parrots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241347</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Polly share a cracker: Study finds grey parrots are good Samaritans</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/polly-share-a-cracker-study-finds-grey-parrots-are-good-samaritans/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/polly-share-a-cracker-study-finds-grey-parrots-are-good-samaritans/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jan 2020 11:04:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/01/09100009/This-image-shows-an-African-grey-parrot-Lizzy-at-Loro-Parque-in-Tenerife-CREDIT-Anette-Mertens-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=226120</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Intelligence, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Charismatic Animals, Endangered Species, Mammals, Parrots, Pets, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It looked like a game of parrot poker, but the token exchange counter set up by European researchers at a Spanish zoo was an experiment to determine if African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) are inclined to be good Samaritans. Like humans, the parrots, which are famous for their ability to mimic human speech, are intrinsically motivated [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It looked like a game of parrot poker, but the token exchange counter set up by European researchers at a Spanish zoo was an experiment to determine if African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) are inclined to be good Samaritans. Like humans, the parrots, which are famous for their ability to mimic human speech, are intrinsically motivated to help one another, the study published Jan. 9 in Current Biology found. The experiment was limited to eight African greys, but it is likely to spark more research because, until now, this kind of helping behavior has not been seen in birds. Mammals like humans and great apes are known to help each other like this. The authors say their research shows that this kind of altruism has evolved in birds independently from mammals. The two classes shared an ancestor more than 300 million years ago, but according to one line of thinking, being faced with similar social and ecological pressures led to the emergence of the same cognitive abilities in the two groups. African grey parrots Nikki and Jack exchanging tokens with one another. Image by Anastasia Krasheninnikova. The corvid family of birds that includes crows and ravens, like parrots, are known as “feathered apes” because they have a large brain size relative to their bodies and are known to display intelligent behavior. However, crows are not known to share. “In 2015, a study by Austrian researchers tested ravens’ abilities to help one another and found that they acted rather selfish,” said Désirée&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/polly-share-a-cracker-study-finds-grey-parrots-are-good-samaritans/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/polly-share-a-cracker-study-finds-grey-parrots-are-good-samaritans/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-226120</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Saving Guatemala’s vanishing macaws: Q&#038;A with veterinarian Luis Fernando Guerra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/saving-guatemalas-vanishing-macaws-qa-with-veterinarian-luis-fernando-guerra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/saving-guatemalas-vanishing-macaws-qa-with-veterinarian-luis-fernando-guerra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2019 18:47:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/27181908/Guacamaya-entrando-nido-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219910</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Guatemala]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Birds, Cattle, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Parrots, Pasture, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Ranching, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[4759]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Laguna del Tigre National Park sits in the northwest corner of Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, encompassing about 3,367 square kilometers (1,300 square miles) of jungle, lagoons and ancient ruins. But it is also the site of some of the country’s worst deforestation, losing around 30 percent of its forest cover between 2001 and 2018, according [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Laguna del Tigre National Park sits in the northwest corner of Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, encompassing about 3,367 square kilometers (1,300 square miles) of jungle, lagoons and ancient ruins. But it is also the site of some of the country’s worst deforestation, losing around 30 percent of its forest cover between 2001 and 2018, according to satellite data collated by the University of Maryland. Just since May, around 60,000 deforestation alerts have been recorded in the national park and more than 180,000 in the reserve. Impoverished rural communities, often with no land of their own, set fire to the jungle in hopes of establishing farms and cattle ranches. Officials in the park say many cattle ranches are also a front for cocaine traffickers, who need large swaths of hidden space to land planes arriving from Colombia and Venezuela. So far this year, NASA satellites have detected more than 40,000 fires in Guatemala, with more recorded in Laguna del Tigre’s municipality of San Andres than in any other municipality in the country. And the vast majority of San Andres fires are happening in the national park. Researchers say the fires spreading across Laguna del Tigre and other parts of the biosphere reserve are having a direct impact on the area’s biodiversity, most notably for the northern subspecies of the scarlet macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera). The bird once occupied southern Mexico, as well as Honduras and El Salvador, but its habitat has shrunk significantly. In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/saving-guatemalas-vanishing-macaws-qa-with-veterinarian-luis-fernando-guerra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/saving-guatemalas-vanishing-macaws-qa-with-veterinarian-luis-fernando-guerra/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219910</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report: Turkish carrier is ‘poacher’s airline of choice’ for parrot trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/report-turkish-carrier-is-poachers-airline-of-choice-for-parrot-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/report-turkish-carrier-is-poachers-airline-of-choice-for-parrot-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2019 09:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/02/18072730/1022685-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=215586</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Middle East, and Turkey]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Illegal Trade, Parrots, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife traffickers rely heavily on airlines to smuggle endangered species. Now, in a recent report, the U.K.-based charity World Animal Protection (WAP) has named Turkish Airlines as one of the main airlines enabling the illegal trade in African grey parrots, one of the most trafficked birds in the world. WAP also started an online campaign, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife traffickers rely heavily on airlines to smuggle endangered species. Now, in a recent report, the U.K.-based charity World Animal Protection (WAP) has named Turkish Airlines as one of the main airlines enabling the illegal trade in African grey parrots, one of the most trafficked birds in the world. WAP also started an online campaign, “Wildlife. Not pets.”, demanding that Turkish Airlines stop transporting all birds “until it’s sure African grey parrots and other protected species aren’t being flown on its planes.” In response, Turkish Airlines on Feb. 13 issued a global embargo on the transportation of African grey parrots on any of its planes, according to a press release by WAP. “Though there is a long way to go, the embargo on African grey parrots is a promising first step,” the press release said. “We’re pleased the company responded quickly to our concerns and look forward to working together to improve welfare for wildlife.” African grey parrots, which include two endangered species, the grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) and Timneh parrot (P. timneh), are extremely popular in the international pet trade. Famed for their mimicry, the parrots are one of the world’s most illegally trafficked birds, and their capture from the wild has led to catastrophic population declines across their range. In 2016, the grey parrots were included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which means that all international commercial trade in wild-caught African grey parrots is prohibited. Calling Turkish&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/report-turkish-carrier-is-poachers-airline-of-choice-for-parrot-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/report-turkish-carrier-is-poachers-airline-of-choice-for-parrot-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-215586</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Video: Thousands of illegally caught African gray parrots being rehabilitated</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/video-thousands-of-illegally-caught-african-gray-parrots-being-rehabilitated/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/video-thousands-of-illegally-caught-african-gray-parrots-being-rehabilitated/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Nov 2017 04:40:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/16041527/African-gray-parrots-at-rescue-centre.-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=201212</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Republic of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, In-situ Conservation, Parrots, Poaching, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thousands of African gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus), seized from traffickers in Republic of the Congo by rangers, are being treated at a rescue centre built specially for the rehabilitation of these birds, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced Tuesday. The group released a video showing footage of some of the rescued birds at the facility [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thousands of African gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus), seized from traffickers in Republic of the Congo by rangers, are being treated at a rescue centre built specially for the rehabilitation of these birds, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced Tuesday. The group released a video showing footage of some of the rescued birds at the facility built by WCS. The confiscated parrots were most likely being moved to Democratic Republic of the Congo, WCS said, from where the birds would be smuggled to markets in Europe and the Middle East. African gray parrots are extremely talented mimics. They are also one of the world&#8217;s most trafficked birds. Trapped illegally from the wild for the international pet trade, the bird has suffered catastrophic decline across its range. Close to 99 percent of African gray parrots have been wiped out from Ghana&#8217;s forests since 1992, for instance, a 2015 study found. These birds are also being stolen from forests across the Republic of the Congo, conservationists say. “Traffickers are vacuuming up African gray parrots from Africa’s forests,” Emma Stokes, WCS Regional Director for Central Africa, said in a statement. “This heartbreaking footage should serve as a wake-up call to any prospective buyers of parrots to avoid them unless they come from a highly reputable dealer and you are absolutely certain they were bred in captivity and not taken from the wild.” African gray parrot. Photo by Julie Larsen Maher / WCS. Trapping the hyper-social African gray parrots in the wild is not hard. Collectors&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/video-thousands-of-illegally-caught-african-gray-parrots-being-rehabilitated/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/video-thousands-of-illegally-caught-african-gray-parrots-being-rehabilitated/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-201212</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Field Notes: Reinvigorating wild parrot populations with captive birds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/field-notes-reinvigorating-wild-parrot-populations-with-captive-birds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/field-notes-reinvigorating-wild-parrot-populations-with-captive-birds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 May 2017 11:19:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Devitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/17173100/NEW-FEATURED-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195783</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bolivia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Over-hunting, Parrots, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[After relentless trapping for the pet trade reduced wild Blue-throated macaw populations to mere rumors, the bird was rediscovered in 1992 in a remote area of Bolivia. Endemic only to this nation, Ara glaucogularis lives in hard-to-reach places that are flooded much of the year. Unable to easily survey similar locales, conservationists could only hope [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Blue-throated Macaws at nest cavity. Poachers knew where to find this species when the conservation world did not. The Critically Endangered Ara glaucogularis was rediscovered in 1992 when a former trustee of the World Parrot Trust posed as a wildlife photographer to get a poacher to reveal the location of a single nest. Photo by Darío Podestá After relentless trapping for the pet trade reduced wild Blue-throated macaw populations to mere rumors, the bird was rediscovered in 1992 in a remote area of Bolivia. Endemic only to this nation, Ara glaucogularis lives in hard-to-reach places that are flooded much of the year. Unable to easily survey similar locales, conservationists could only hope that more of the Critically Endangered parrots existed than the hundred or so they originally found. An intensive regimen to protect the remaining birds was put into action by local NGOs —including the Conservación de Loros de Bolivia, and the Research Center for Biodiversity and the Environment — along with academic collaborators and the World Parrot Trust. However, more than a decade of hands-on conservation yielded frustrating results, with no significant population increase or recruitment of new breeding pairs. At that point the World Parrot Trust, under the guidance of executive director Jamie Gilardi, began to consider the captive population they had been managing for more than 15 years in a different light. Under the right conditions, perhaps some of these birds could be readied for release to the wild. If captive-reared bird releases were successful, then parrots&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/field-notes-reinvigorating-wild-parrot-populations-with-captive-birds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/field-notes-reinvigorating-wild-parrot-populations-with-captive-birds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195783</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nigerian superhighway project draws international attention over threats to local communities and wildlife</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/nigerian-superhighway-project-draws-international-attention-over-threats-to-local-communities-and-wildlife/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/nigerian-superhighway-project-draws-international-attention-over-threats-to-local-communities-and-wildlife/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Nov 2016 17:49:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/11/02173007/2_WCSNigeria_CRGsilverback_2014-683x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=190578</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Apes, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Birds, Cats, Community Forests, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Deforestation, Elephants, Environment, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Gorillas, Great Apes, Infrastructure, Leopards, Mammals, Monkeys, Parks, Parrots, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The clearing of a corridor for the Cross River Superhighway in Nigeria, which would cut through the southern half of the country, has been temporarily halted as a result of protests by local communities that led to an environmental impact assessment process now underway. But work on the highway could reportedly be restarted at any [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The clearing of a corridor for the Cross River Superhighway in Nigeria, which would cut through the southern half of the country, has been temporarily halted as a result of protests by local communities that led to an environmental impact assessment process now underway. But work on the highway could reportedly be restarted at any time, despite increasingly louder calls from both within and without Nigeria to either rehabilitate existing highways or reroute the proposed highway so it does not destroy protected areas and community forests. The proposed six-lane superhighway in the West African country’s Cross River State would stretch 260 kilometers (162 miles) with a 10-kilometer (six-mile) buffer on both sides. If completed, it would displace 180 indigenous communities and threaten one of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has launched an international campaign calling on Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, Environment Minister Amina Mohammed, and Cross State Governor Benedict Ayade to stop the highway. The proposed superhighway of Nigeria’s Cross River State is putting the region’s biodiverse rainforests and many threatened animal and plant species at risk. Photo courtesy of WCS. In just the first two weeks following the campaign’s launch, WCS collected nearly 42,000 petition signatures. The Ekuri Initiative, a forest stewardship organization run by one of the indigenous communities whose land lies in the path of the Cross River Superhighway, has already delivered 253,000 signatures to the federal government asking for their ancestral forests to be protected. WCS is partnering&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/nigerian-superhighway-project-draws-international-attention-over-threats-to-local-communities-and-wildlife/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/11/nigerian-superhighway-project-draws-international-attention-over-threats-to-local-communities-and-wildlife/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-190578</doi>				</item>
			</channel>
</rss>