CreatureData

Great green macaw

Ara ambiguus (Bechstein, 1811)

CRCritically Endangeredparrots

The great green macaw (Ara ambiguus) is a species in the family Psittacidae, order Psittaciformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.29 kg to 1.3 kg and live up to 29 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.

Great green macaw (Ara ambiguus)
Photo: Hans Norelius from Älvsjö, Sweden · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the great green macaw

Weight
1.3 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
29 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Granivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
2.4src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Photos of the great green macaw

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Great green macaw (Ara ambiguus)
Alois Staudacher · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the great green macaw live?

Not recorded

What is the great green macaw?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The great green macaw (Ara ambiguus), also known as Buffon's macaw or the great military macaw, is a critically endangered Central and South America parrot found in Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Two allopatric subspecies are recognized; the nominate subspecies, Ara ambiguus ssp. ambiguus, occurs from Honduras to Colombia, while Ara ambiguus ssp. guayaquilensis appears to be endemic to remnants of dry forests on the southern Pacific coast of Ecuador. The nominate subspecies lives in the canopy of wet tropical forests and in Costa Rica is usually associated with the almendro tree, Dipteryx oleifera.

From the Wikipedia article “Great green macaw” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_green_macaw&oldid=1382314729), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the great green macaw endangered?

The great green macaw is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Critically Endangered species. What the categories mean.

How is the great green macaw classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPsittaciformes
  5. familyPsittacidae
  6. genusAra
  7. SpeciesAra ambiguus (Bechstein, 1811)

Synonyms Ara ambigua, Psittacus ambiguus

Other names and names in other languages (48)
  • Buffon's macawEnglish
  • مكاو أخضر كبيرArabic
  • Голям зелен араBulgarian
  • Ara BuffonBreton
  • guacamai verd grosCatalan
  • ara zelenýCzech
  • Macaw gwyrdd mawrWelsh
  • Stor SoldateraraDanish
  • BechsteinaraGerman
  • Großer SoldatenaraGerman
  • verda araoEsperanto
  • Lapa VerdeSpanish
  • Guacamaya verde limónSpanish
  • Guacamayo ambiguoSpanish
  • Guacamayo verde grandeSpanish
  • Guacamayo Verde MayorSpanish
  • suur-soldataaraEstonian
  • مکائو سبز بزرگPersian
  • panamanaraFinnish
  • Ara de BuffonFrench
  • Gua'a hovyũGuarani
  • ארה ירוקה גדולהHebrew
  • zelena araCroatian
  • zöld araHungarian
  • nagy katonaaraHungarian
  • Ara verdeItalian
  • ヒワコンゴウインコJapanese
  • ekvadorinė araLithuanian
  • Салтак араWestern Mari
  • Shádiʼááhdę́ę́ʼ tsídii yáłtiʼítsoh chʼilgo dootłʼizhígííNavajo
  • Buffons AraDutch
  • gladiatoraraNorwegian
  • ara oliwkowaPolish
  • ہرا وڈا میکاعWestern Panjabi
  • arara-verdePortuguese
  • arara-militar-grandePortuguese
  • arara-verde-grandePortuguese
  • Зелёный араRussian
  • Солдатский араRussian
  • ara olivováSlovak
  • veliki zeleni araSlovenian
  • Velika zelena araSerbian
  • större soldataraSwedish
  • Büyük Yeşil AraTurkish
  • ара нікарагуанськийUkrainian
  • عظیم سبز مکاؤUrdu
  • 大綠麥鷍Chinese
  • 大绿金刚鹦鹉Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the great green macaw

Other species in the same genus Ara.

CompareGreat green macaw vs Blue-and-yellow macawGreat green macaw vs Scarlet macawGreat green macaw vs Red-and-green macawGreat green macaw vs Blue-throated macaw

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the great green macaw?

An adult great green macaw weighs 1.3 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the great green macaw endangered?

The great green macaw is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

How long does the great green macaw live?

The great green macaw has a recorded lifespan of 29 years.

What kind of animal is the great green macaw?

The great green macaw (Ara ambiguus) belongs to the family Psittacidae in the order Psittaciformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Great green macaw (Ara ambiguus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-green-macaw

MLA

“Great green macaw (Ara ambiguus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-green-macaw.

BibTeX
@misc{great_green_macaw_2026,
  title = {Great green macaw (Ara ambiguus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-green-macaw},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}