Belgian zoo sets world record with breeding of all three blue macaw species

Pairi Daiza zoo in Belgium has achieved a remarkable conservation feat, becoming the only public nature center globally to successfully breed all three existing species of blue macaw. This includes the hyacinth macaw, Spix's macaw, and Lear's macaw. The latest success came in early July with the birth of two Lear's macaw chicks, a species critically endangered and listed on the IUCN Red List. Few conservation centers worldwide have managed to reproduce this species.

Chloé Meunier, a rare bird keeper at the zoo, shared the challenges of breeding Lear's macaws. Last year, a young, inexperienced pair broke their eggs. This year, the team carefully removed the fertilized eggs for incubation, closely monitoring their development until hatching. Meunier described the intensive early care, involving feeding the chicks every three hours, day and night, a demanding process that has now been spaced out to three meals a day.

Beyond its avian achievements, Pairi Daiza also secured its third Guinness World Record on July 20. After seven years of research, the zoo's Edenya tropical greenhouse was certified as containing 1,675 plant species, surpassing the previous record of 1,100 species held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England. The greenhouse itself is a record-holder, being the largest tropical greenhouse in the world.

Steffen Patzwahl, a Pairi Daiza conservator, expressed surprise at the scale of the achievement. "When we started building this greenhouse, we didn't imagine it would become the largest in the world," he told EFE. "We also didn't imagine we would house the largest collection of living plants in a greenhouse." The Guinness committee required a detailed catalog, including photos, for each species within the garden. Patzwahl, who has led the project for seven years, designed a master plan integrating plants, animals, decoration, and culture, with influences from Colombian traditions and traditional clothing.