other macaw species do. Instead, they primarily eat fruit from large palms. The palm species Attalea phalerata is the most predominant source, but they will also eat from Acrocomia aculeata and Mauritia fleuxosa. The macaws eat the mesocarp from ripe and nearly ripe fruit and have also been observed drinking the liquid from very immature fruit. Breeding Blue-throated macaws usually breed once a year but if the eggs or nestlings are lost, they may produce a second clutch in the same breeding season. A clutch consists of one to three eggs and incubates for 26 days. Nestlings have a mass of approximately 18 g at hatching and fledge at 13 to 14 weeks. The young macaws are still fully dependent upon their parents for food after they fledge until they are capable of foraging by themselves. Even after this occurs, it has been observed that young blue-throated macaws will stay with their parents up to a year. During this time, the parents will skip an entire breeding season. Blue-throated macaws reach sexual maturity at about 5 years of age. Nesting Blue-throated macaws usually nest in cavities of palm trees, most often Attalea phalerata, although it will nest in other palm species as well. Dead palms are the preferred nest as they are hollowed out by large grubs after the tree has died. Nesting pairs of blue-throated macaws don't consistently stay at one nest for consecutive breeding seasons and will usually search for different nesting sites every year. In the wild the blue-throated macaw often competes for nesting-holes in trees with the blue-and-yellow macaw, green-winged macaw, scarlet macaw, large woodpeckers, toco toucans, barn owls, bats, and bees. The number of suitable nest trees has been reduced by land clearing in its range. Conservation status and programs The blue-throated macaw has a very small population and is on the verge of extinction in the wild. It is listed on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered. It is also listed in Appendix I by CITES. Trapping is illegal as blue-throated macaws have been protected by the national legislation of Bolivia. According to locals the wild population of the blue-throated macaw in the 1980s was thought to number 500-1000 individuals. Although trapping ceased later in the 1990s, the wild population remains low, with previous estimates of between 110–130 individuals, that more recently have been increased to about 350–400 after surveys by Armonia Association