DNA FINGERPRINTING IN A WILD POPULATION OF THE ENDANGERED HYACINTH MACAW Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

.The Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) is an endangered parrot. A population in the Pantanal (Brazil) has been monitored by Neiva M.R. Guedes for six years. We applied DNA fingerprinting on 56 chicks born in four reproductive seasons. Some bands detected by the minisatellite probe 33.6 are present in all chicks and may constitute markers for this population. This is important for reintroduction purposes. When these bands are included in the analysis, the mean similarity index (SI) between unrelated birds is 0.40, but when they are excluded, it is 0.28, close to the value found with probe 33.15. Female linked bands detected by probe 33.15 indicated a sex ratio of 1:1 among the nestlings. The SI between chicks of the same nest is higher than among chicks of different nests, suggesting that the former birds are more related, possibly siblings. The SI among chicks belonging to nests in close is similar to that among chicks from nests farther away. These results support field observations that Hyacinth Macaws are monogamous and probably do not have extra-pair fertilisation. This study was supported by FAPESP, CNPq.