MACAWS in SlowMotion! Rainforest Research! Smarter Every Day 60

Hey, it's me, Dtin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day!

So let's pretend for a second that you're a macaw, and you live in the Amazon rainforest. Life is pretty good; you have all the fruit you want. But there's one problem: you don't get all the nutrients that you need out of that fruit. So how do you do that?

To answer that question today, I have traveled over 4 days, most of that being in the Amazon rainforest, with an outfit called Rainforest Expeditions. This is our final boat ride, so we are going to get in this boat, and we're going to go up river here at the Tomba River. J's going to go with us; he's helping me haul some photo gear. You're getting smarter every day!

So I'm in a boat full of researchers here at the Tombo Pota Research Center, and we are about to go check out exactly how these macaws handle the nutrient problem.

Let's go to the main spot first, okay? And then we'll see how the activity goes in the beginning. Okay, okay, sounds good.

So this guy right here is in charge. He hasn't said a word to me since I've been here. He's in the zone; he's got a clipboard, so you know he's legit. Talk now or talk later? Later. Talk later, got it. I told you he's busy doing science; don't mess with the man.

Okay, so that spot of dirt right over there is the largest clay lick in the world here at the Tomo Pota Research Center. Researchers come from all over just to watch this spot of dirt. Macaws, parrots, and other birds come in and they eat the dirt, and that gives them the nutrients they need. So today we brought a high-speed camera, and we're going to try to capture the macaws doing this. Should be pretty cool!

One thing that the birds do that we don't really understand yet is called flashing. It's when a bunch of them pile up on the clay lick, and then all of a sudden, boom, all of them release at one time. So hopefully I can give this high-speed video to the researchers and make use of it.

Okay, so I'm home now, but I can't stop thinking about why a macaw would eat dirt. Well, between all my scratching of bug bites, I contacted the Center for Exotic Bird Health at Texas A&M University and spoke with a guy named Dr. Don Brightsmith. For the past few decades, the theory has been there's toxins in fruit in the jungle, and that the birds are eating this clay to neutralize the toxins.

But research by Dr. Brightsmith suggests that it has more to do with sodium and how rain falls on the continent of South America in general. So if you begin to look at South America, you can understand why this happens. On the west side, we have the Pacific Ocean; on the east side, we have the Atlantic Ocean.

So it makes sense that the evaporation would create rain and create the Amazon rainforest. But that's not what happens. If you look at a satellite image, it's easy to see, but the Andes Mountains actually cut off the moisture before it gets over to the Amazon rainforest. In fact, most of the stuff to the west of the Andes is pure desert.

This means that most of the moisture in the Amazon rainforest comes from the Atlantic side of the continent. So as moisture evaporates here in the Atlantic Ocean, it begins to deposit its minerals as it crosses the continent. And by the time it gets here to eastern Peru, most of the minerals have leached into the soil because it's gone through the hydrological cycle several times.

Dr. Brightsmith and his team analyzed the clay that the macaws are eating at the Tomoa Research Center, and they discovered that there's much higher concentrations of sodium. So there you go! That's why clay licks exist.

I hope you enjoyed the video. I had to spend some time away from the family in order to do it, but I hope it was worth it for you. If you would, please consider subscribing and check out the links in the video description below. I'd appreciate it.

Getting smarter every day! Have a good one.

Don't eat my passport! You can't eat my passport!

Back in the boat. Why aren't you doing anything? I don't know what to do.

And that's how we got the high-speed camera to the jungle right there. I don't have a lens that can reach way over there, so Jeff, the high-resolution photographer here at Rainforest Expeditions, let me borrow a 600 mm lens. So that's what we're doing!

I'm looking forward to taking this sound and pitching it down and turning them into scary parrot monsters. What? That's what do you think? We're recording wildlife for wildlife.

So today we're in Peru. It's pretty awesome! We've assembled a team of people; we're going to capture Machu Picchu in the highest resolution photo that's ever been made of it. Got a special panoramic robotic camera mount. We got all kinds of cool stuff!