A parrot declared extinct in the wild is flying free again
The last confirmed wild Spix's macaw vanished in 2000, likely killed by a power line, leaving the striking blue parrot alive only in captive breeding collections in Qatar and Germany. Starting in June 2022, conservationists released captive-bred birds into Brazil's caatinga scrubland in batches, mixed with a related species to help them learn wild behaviour. By 2023, a released pair had hatched chicks of their own, the species' first confirmed wild breeding since 1986.