Why did the Glaucus Macaw disappear?

     The Glaucus Macaw was the largest parrot in the world. This extremely endangered resident of Brazil was slightly smaller than the Hyacinth (a close relative to the Glaucus Macaw) but had a strong family resemblance. Slightly smaller still and greener than most macaws is another cousin to the Glaucus Macaw, the Lear Macaw. The question of its continued existence provides facination for many people who are both trying to find the bird and help maintain its existence. It is told that the last Glaucus macaw "died" in the Buenos Aires Zoo in 1938 having been there 20 years.
     Many people have spent their whole lives searching alone large rivers in sub-tropical forests in almost all of south america just to find this animal. The birds population is likely to have declined severely as a result of hunting and trapping, plus habitat degradation and destruction. However, it may well remain existant, because not all of its formerly large range of habitat has been surveyed and searched, and there have been persistent and convincing local reports. Any remaining population is likely to be tiny, and for these reasons it is treated as Critically Endangered. The size and appearance of the bird probably made it a significant target for hunters, and even the taking of young as pets could have been an important role in this creatures random rapid decrease in population.
     There are a couple organizations who strongly believe this animal is still existant. Even the Brazilian government believes it existance by passing a law that protects the bird from any harm or relocation. One of these organizations is the Birdlife Preventing Extinctions Programme, http://www.birdlife.org/action/campaigns/species_champions/index.html , which is a global network of independent nature conservation organisations operating in more than 100 countries. Their work to evaluate and monitor the status of the world’s bird species began many years ago. They now know the threats that face every globally threatened bird, and the main conservation actions required to protect them. These organizations may seem to not help but they accually do. They have repopulated over 1,000 birds and taken 500 off of the endangered species list. Birds on the endangered species list are currently being helped out by these organizations due to their lack of population caused by hunting and the destroying of their environment. If organizations like these would have been around many years ago and had more funds the Glaucus Macaw and many other birds would not have dissappeared.