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Licking Clay: the Macaws of Tambopata, Peru

10,000 Birds

The primary reasons for the decline of macaws and parrots are many but habitat loss due to logging; clear cutting for crops and cattle ranching; and capture for the pet trade rank among the most threatening. These threats are further exacerbated by the naturally low reproductive rates of these cavity-nesting birds. Wicked, right?

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What happened with Archaeopteryx?

10,000 Birds

But it is utterly bewildering to me to see news reports about this recent science that read “… An icon knocked from its perch&# or “Archaeopteryx no longer first bird.&# This has happened before, Archaeopteryx and the bird family tree have had an often tenuous relationship.

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