Abstract
The Severe Macaw, also called the Chestnut-fronted Macaw (Ara severa seuera), once inhabited a large range in South America. It has been recorded as far north as Panama and the Guianas, throughout the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, as well as portions of Brazil. The wild flocks were huge: many thousands of Severe Macaws were ultimately imported into the United States and other countries but only minimal attention was given this species by breeders. The great majority of Severes was sold as pets. "A cheap macaw" became available to fill the insatiable appetite o1 prospective parrot owners.
Today, this macaw has become one of the most sought after of the miniature macaw species. While their numbers have declined dramatically, the cost has risen sharply. I acquired a pair of Severe Macaws in the early 1970s. My original goal was to tame and resell the two birds as pets. I have since laerned to appreciate them for their extraordinary personalities and incredible aptitudes. The Severe Macaw is both physically and mentally agile. After a quarantine period, during which this new pair of birds was kept totally isolated from the rest of my flock, I began the process of taming them.
I chose these birds from a group of approximately 200 newly imported Severes. I used the same criteria in selecting these two birds as always: overall condition of the plumage, clearness of the eyes, cleanliness of the nostrils and the vent, good weight (referring to the amount of flesh on the breast), condition of the skin on the legs and feet, and so forth. It was impossible to judge the trainability of the two by observing them with the rest of the flock, for the activity in the flight cage was tremendous and the birds rarely came to rest for more than a few seconds at a time. It is fair to say that the Severe Macaw is an active bird, one that responds to all manner of stimuli and one that rarely sits still.
One of the two birds (which has turned out to be male) was tamed easily, learning to sit on my hand, arm, shoulder, and on an open bird stand in a relatively short time, with a minimum of lesson time. He was a fine specimen with a good disposition and would remain on the open perch for extended periods of liberty outside the cage even though the other Severe remained caged in the same room. (I always conduct taming lessons with one bird at a time, even if two birds are being tamed simultaneously.) He never learned to accept being touched on the head or back and would squawk loudly whenever I attempted to pet him. He was not an aggressive bird, however, and never attempted to bite me.