50 individuals and it was considered as one of the rarest birds in Brazil and in the world. Only three males and one female were found until that date. In 2003 the estimations were more optimistic and BirdLife International assumed the population of 49 to 250 individuals. In 2004 it proceeded on the assumption that less than 250 individuals exist in the wild which was based on 43 discovered males. In 2000 a theme park with swimming pools and asphalted roads was built at the type locality Nascente do Farias and the largest part of its original habitat was destroyed. The cleared trees were replaced by banana plantations. The last assessed population was on August 7th, 2018. An estimated 150 - 700 mature individuals are living in Brazil. At the BirdLife International celebrity lecture held in Peterborough on 16 August 2008, it was announced that Sir David Attenborough would be championing the Araripe manakin in an effort to raise funds to help protect this rare bird. There are approximately 500 pairs of the Araripe manakin left. Sir David was presented with a picture of the manakin following his lecture, which was on Alfred Russel Wallace and Birds of Paradise. References Azevedo Jr., S. M.; Nascimento, J. L. X. & Nascimento, I. L. S. 2000. Novos registros de ocorrência de Antilophia bokermanni Coelho e Silva, 1990 na Chapada do Araripe, Ceará, Brasil. Ararajuba 8(2): 133–134. Coelho, G. & Silva, W. 1998. A new species of Antilophia (Passeriformes: Pipridae) from Chapada do Araripe, Ceará, Brazil. Ararajuba 6(2): 81–84. Snow, D. W. (2004). Family Pipridae (Manakins). pp. 110–169 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Christie, D. A. eds (2004). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. MILENE G. Gaiotti, Wilmara Mascarenhas, and Regina H. Macedo "The Critically Endangered and Endemic Araripe Manakin (Antilophia bokermanni): Dietary Assessment For Conservation Purposes," The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 129(4), 783-791, (1 December 2017). https://doi.org/10.1676/16-140.1 External links Araripe manakin videos on the Internet Bird Collection BirdLife factsheet - Araripe manakin (English) Araripe manakin. ARKive. Photograph of the male Conservação do soldadinho-do-araripe Antilophia bokermanni (AVES: Pipridae) (Archived 2009-10-25) (pdf, Portuguese) Beauty of birds The Critically Endangered and Endemic Araripe Manakin (Antilophia bokermanni): Dietary Assessment For Conservation Purposes Araripe manakin Araripe manakin Birds of the Caatinga Critically endangered animals Critically endangered biota of South America Endemic birds of Brazil