Ara ambiguus is a chordate, or more specifically a bird, in the Psittacidae family.

Ara ambiguus is commonly known (its common name) as the Great Green Macaw in English. In French (Français), Ara ambiguus is commonly known as the Ara De Buffon. In Spanish (Español), Ara ambiguus is commonly known as the Guacamayo Ambiguo.

Ara ambiguus is classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Ara ambiguus's population trend was decreasing at last assessment, meaning its numbers are declining in the wild.

Species Authority: The species authority, or the name(s) of scientist(s) or person(s) who first described Ara ambiguus is (Bechstein, 1811) (IUCN Red List).

Summary: Binomial name Ara ambiguus
(Bechstein, 1811) subspecies

A. a. ambiguus
A. a. guayaquilensis

The Great Green Macaw, also called Buffon's Macaw (Ara ambiguus) is a Central American parrot found in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Two isolated subspecies are recognized, the nominate form is found in Central America to Northern Colombia, while the A. a. guayaquilensis is found in Ecuador and possibly south-western Colombia.[2]

Great Green Macaws are green, with a reddish forehead and pale blue lower back, rump and upper tail cover feathers. Tail is brownish red tipped with very pale blue.

It has been described as endangered [3], and has been one of the key elements in the proposal for the formation of a new National Park in Costa Rica, Maquenque National Park. Already significant parts of the birds existing habitat is covered by Nature reserves and other conservation projects.

The scientific name has recently been changed from A. ambigua to A. ambiguus to bring the name in gender agreement.[4]

(Wikipedia).

Country Distribution: Ara ambiguus is found in the following countries:

Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama (IUCN Red List).

Biome(s)/Ecosystem(s): IUCN lists the following as biomes for Ara ambiguus: Terrestrial (IUCN Red List).

Major Habitat(s): 1.5 Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 1.6 Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist (IUCN Red List).

Range: Ara ambiguus occurs as two subspecies. The nominate race occurs from Honduras to north-west Colombia, and the race guayaquilensis in western Ecuador³. In Panama, it is locally fairly common (near Cana, Alturas de Nique^1,17) on the Caribbean slope and fairly common in Darin (and adjacent Colombia¹¹), and occurs in Serrana de Maj and south Cerro Hoya¹⁰. In Colombia, it is also found in the north of the Serrana de Baud and the West Andes, east to the upper Sin valley^4,13. In Honduras, it is uncommon near the ro Pltano¹³ and, in Nicaragua, it persists in the Bosawas Reserve and around the ros Indio-Maz and San Juan¹². The Ecuador population has been estimated at 60-90 individuals, but this may be an overestimate¹⁸. The largest population in Costa Rica is only 25-35 pairs⁹. There are up to 100 birds in Esmeraldas, and very small numbers in the Cordillera de Chongn-Colonche, Guayas, Ecuador¹³. Recent estimates suggest that the global population is less than 2,500 mature individuals (or less than 3,700 in total including juveniles and immatures), with the largest Darin subpopulation at less than 1,700 mature individuals (or less than 2,500 in total)¹⁶. The species forms non-breeding flocks of 50 or more, with flock attendants coming together from huge areas, possibly leading to inflated local estimates of abundance¹⁶, and within Darin its distribution is quite local, it being absent from several remote areas¹⁷. (IUCN Red List).

CONSERVATION STATUS

Red List Category & Criteria: Ara ambiguus is listed as EN A2cd+3cd ver 3.1 (2001) (IUCN Red List).

Year Assessed: Ara ambiguus's status was assessed in 2005 (IUCN Red List).

Assessor: Ara ambiguus's Red List status was evaluated by BirdLife International (IUCN Red List).

Red List Evaluator: The Red List Evaluator for Ara ambiguus is listed by IUCN as Butchart, S. & Stattersfield, A. (BirdLife International Red List Authority) (IUCN Red List).

Red List Rational / Justification : Ara ambiguus is listed by IUCN for the following: This species has been uplisted to Endangered because extensive habitat destruction and capture for the cage-bird trade are inferred to have caused very rapid and continuing population declines. These threats have had such a significant impact that it is very rare in four out of six range states, and the total population is now suspected to be small. (IUCN Red List).

Red List History: Ara ambiguus was listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 1988 (IUCN Red List).

Data Sources for IUCN data: The following is a list of citations from the IUCN web site for Ara ambiguus:

Citations listed by IUCN

Bird Reference Citations. The numbers inserted in the text accounts above (usually in bold) refer to references. For further details on these references, click on the BirdLife International link above to go to the specific species account on the BirdLife web site. In some cases, particularly in the taxonomic notes, the references are cited using the author names. Details for these can be found on the BirdLife International web site at the following two places:
For References from A–L.
For References from M–Z.

BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.

BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.

BirdLife International. 2005. Threatened Birds of the World 2005. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 30/04/2005.

(IUCN Red List).

References: Wikipedia lists the following as references for Ara ambiguus:
^ BirdLife International (2005). Ara ambiguus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is endangered ^ Forshaw, Joseph M.; Cooper, William T. [1973, 1978] (1981). Parrots of the World, corrected second edition, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, London. ISBN 0-7153-7698-5. ^ BirdLife International 2005. Ara ambiguus. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 05 May 2006. ^ David and Gosselin (2002b) (Wikipedia).

Links: IUCN Red List Profile for Ara ambiguus (IUCN Red List).

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