[further explanation needed] The scarlet macaw was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Psittacus macao.

[4] The two subspecies can be recognized by size and color detail in the feathers on the wings:[4] In May 2013, it was announced that a team of scientists, led by Dr. Christopher M. Seabury and Dr. Ian Tizard of Texas A&M University had sequenced the complete genome of the scarlet macaw.

Scarlet macaws make very loud, high and sometimes low-pitched, throaty squawks, squeaks and screams designed to carry many kilometers to call for their groups.

[15] As with smaller parrot species, there are reports of their consumption of insects, larvae, and snails; however, this seems to be rare for macaws and is not a major component of their diet.

Local non-profit organizations have planted hundreds of those trees along the coastline from the Tárcoles River basin to Esterillos Beach which had helped increase the population drastically.

[18] The female incubates the eggs for about five weeks, and the chicks fledge from the nest about 90 days after hatching[19] and leave their parents about a year later.

The scarlet macaw inhabits primarily humid, lowland subtropical rain forests, open woodlands, river edges, and savannas.

In some regions, they are known to periodically visit natural mineral deposits (or 'licks'), typically in areas rich in clay and sediment, which the macaws will eat for digestive purposes and to glean vital nutrients, including sodium and calcium.

[1] In Bolivia, it is quite common in the Aquicuana Reserve, in the northeastern Beni Department (near the city of Riberalta, the capital of the Bolivian Amazon region).

In (southern) North and Central America, the species' range extends from the Yucatán Peninsula (extreme southeastern Mexico and Belize) and southward through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, as well as the island of Coiba.

This population, which includes a number of related blue-and-yellow macaws, was introduced to the village around 2010; they are trained to fly freely around the area, returning to a conservation centre for food and shelter in the evenings.

Nevertheless, the scarlet macaw's habitat is fragmented, and the bird is mostly confined to tiny populations scattered throughout its original range in Middle America.

Their captive diet, egg incubation, assisted hatching, hand rearing, co-parenting, parent-rearing, fledgling, maturation, and breeding are well understood within the avicultural community (AFA Watchbird magazine).