Chester Zoo team working to help save rare parrot

Ecuador Amazon parrot. Image by Frank Wouters A QUEST spanning many years has unearthed one of the rarest parrots in South America.

Dr Mark Pilgrim, Chester Zoo director general and an expert on Amazon parrots, made the 11th hour discovery which could help save the species known as the Ecuador Amazon parrot from extinction.

Dr Pilgrim said: “The rate at which animals are becoming extinct is higher today than at any other time in history.  In the face of this crisis, and a lack of adequate resources with which to properly address it, it’s not really surprising subspecies are seen as being of lesser conservation importance to full species.

“This places great significance on taxonomic evaluation studies of threatened animals, as misclassifying a species as a subspecies will mean it’s likely to be overlooked as a conservation priority.

“While working as a birdkeeper at Chester Zoo in the late 1980s, I was fascinated by a little green parrot called the Ecuador Amazon (Latin name Amazona autumnalis lilacina). At that time we only had a pair of these parrots which came to the zoo after being confiscated by customs officials in the UK.

“They were part of a haul of 150 birds that had been illegally trapped and exported to Europe, where they were destined to be sold illegally into the pet trade.

“I soon started to believe them to be different to three other much more common Amazona autumnalis subspecies that, historically, the Ecuador Amazon was grouped with.

“I thought this parrot might actually be something very special and perhaps a species in its own right. Little did I know then those birds would go on to play such an important part in my life.”

Dr Pilgrim set out to find out more about the species.

From 1992 to 2013, he has visited museums, bird parks and zoos across Europe to try and discover more.

“The first step was to look for any morphological differences – basically body shapes and colour patterns,” said Dr Pilgrim. “So I travelled to museums in different parts of Europe to analyse more than 60 specimens, taking measurements such as wing-length, tail-length and beak shape. Not only were the specimens few and far between, some were in very poor condition which only added to the challenge. I also looked at 17 live parrots, kept at Chester Zoo, and took opportunities to analyse them only when they were anaesthetised for any pressing veterinary reasons.

“Next I looked at their genetics. Using labs at Liverpool John Moores University, I extracted DNA from feathers and looked at small differences in specific genes that were selected for sequencing. Freshly moulted, primary, secondary and tail feathers of captive Amazona parrots were used as the DNA source, as opposed to taking blood or tissue samples, to avoid causing them any stress. These feathers came from birds kept by zoos and private aviculturists from all over Europe and were collected by a strict protocol to ensure their reliability.

“Finally, I devised an ethogram – a way of cataloguing the birds’ behavioural repertoire, looking at possible differences in their courtship behaviour.”

Dr Pilgrim sorts through more than 100 feathers sent to him by parrot keepers from all around Europe. DNA tests on the feathers have led to the Ecuador Amazon parrot being recognised as a full specie, which could save it from extinction

These investigations have uncovered strong evidence that the Ecuador Amazon parrot is indeed morphologically, behaviourally and genetically distinctive, providing justification for it to be recognised as a full species. But the findings, and the parrots’ impending re-classification, have far-reaching consequences. With full species recognition, the parrot is now likely to be considered as ‘endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Birdlife International, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction. It has a greater than 50 per cent chance of disappearing in the next 20 years.

“The Ecuador Amazon parrot was previously included within a group of subspecies of which there may be as many as five million,” he added. “The main implication of this work is they are so distinct they are now considered as a full species, of which there are only 600 left. This makes a huge difference to their conservation priority. So having shown it’s a species in its own right, we now need to make sure we don’t lose it.

“With 80 Ecuador Amazon parrots in European zoos as part of a conservation breeding programme, now almost a fifth of the world’s population, we realise how precious they are. My fear was always the results of my work would come too late, but there is still time to save it and that’s exactly what we are trying to achieve.”

Chester Zoo is sending an expedition to carry out more research on parrots in the wild. A team of 11, including conservationists and bird experts, will study the birds during their nesting season in the Cerro Blanco Forest in South West Ecuador.

The team is tasked with monitoring the parrots, collecting important data and setting camera traps to try and learn more about them.

Dr Pilgrim added: “Despite my 15 years of research there are still so many questions that need to be answered.  We need to know what trees the parrots feed on, what else may compete for that food in the forest, where they nest and what their behaviour is while they nest. This basic biological information is vital to produce a conservation action plan.

“Additionally we need to do an accurate head count. We want to find out as precisely as we can just how many of these wonderful birds are left so we can judge if and how fast the population declining.

“This will help us to understand what we need to do to raise the level of protection of the Cerro Blanco Forest and for the parrots.