Macaws

[Cody Raney]

I know Macaws produce fertile hybrids but is the hybridization a result of the birds just not having an available mate of the same species?

 

[Sheather]

It can be, but macaws raised in captivity around other species can choose to form pair bonds with them, even if they have options more like themselves. Captive environments with a more diverse "peer group" can result in different social behavior than wild birds that grow up among only one species.

 

[GaryA]

Do you have some sort of mad scientist obsession?

This is the 3rd thread you have started about hybrids.

Try looking in the archives-there is a long thread on exactly that subject, with external links.

 

[Cody Raney]

Do you have some sort of mad scientist obsession?

This is the 3rd thread you have started about hybrids.

Try looking in the archives-there is a long thread on exactly that subject, with external links.

No. I have a desire to open a wildlife park recreating natural habitats as much as possible and I do not want to deal with hybrids. I ask questions so I learn what can be housed with what.

 

[Sheather]

No. I have a desire to open a wildlife park recreating natural habitats as much as possible and I do not want to deal with hybrids. I ask questions so I learn what can be housed with what.

Any parrots kept in an enclosure together, no matter their relations, might mate together. It's less an issue if it's not a viable mix (budgies can't hybridize with anything but will try anyway with anything from a cockatiel to a pigeon.) They may also do this on the side even if they're paired with a same-species mate. Macaws, conures and cockatoos are most likely to hybridize with related species and some of the possible pairings are pretty strange. Smaller macaws and larger conures can make offspring. Cockatiels and smaller cockatoos can make offspring. The only way to prevent all hybrids is to only keep one species of macaw in an enclosure.