arranged in lines that form a pattern over the otherwise bare skin in all species of the genus except the scarlet macaw in which the skin is bare. In most species the bill is black, but the scarlet macaw and green-winged macaw have a predominantly horn coloured upper mandible and a black lower one. The colours in the plumage of the Ara macaws are spectacular. Four species are predominantly green, two species are mostly blue and yellow, and three species (including the extinct Cuban macaw) are mostly red. There is no sexual dimorphism in the plumage, and the plumage of the juveniles is similar to adults, although slightly duller in some species. Distribution and habitat The Ara macaws have a neotropical distribution from Mexico to Argentina. The centre of Ara distribution is the Amazon Basin and the Panama–Colombia border region; each with as many as four species found together (marginally five where the military macaw approach the western Amazon). Seven species are found in Bolivia, but no single locality in that (or any other) country surpasses four species. The most widespread species, the scarlet macaw, is (or was) distributed throughout large parts of Central America and the Amazon. On the other hand, the blue-throated macaw and the red-fronted macaw have tiny distributions in Bolivia. The overall range of many species and the genus as a whole has declined in historical times due to human activities. The military macaw is distributed from northern Mexico to northern Argentina, but the distribution is discontinuous, with populations in Mexico, a large gap, then a population in the Venezuelan Coastal Range and a population along the Andes from western Venezuela to northern Argentina. The blue-and-yellow macaw was extirpated from Trinidad in the 1960s, as well as retreating from northern Argentina, and several species apparently became extinct in the islands of the Caribbean. The Ara macaws are generally fairly adaptable in their habitat requirements; this reaches its extreme in the scarlet macaw, which as suggested in its widespread distribution, uses most habitat types from humid rainforest to open woodlands to savannah. The only requirement is sufficient large trees, which is where they obtain their food and breeding holes. The other species are slightly more narrow in their habitat choices, but the need for large trees is universal. The blue-throated macaw generally inhabits forest "islands" in the savanna, and the red-fronted macaw prefers arid scrub and cactus