1,000-Year-Old Macaw Breeding Community in the American Southwest
Piles of macaw bones found in Arizona and New Mexico—well outside the bird’s native range in South and Central America—have been dated to between 900 and 1200 CE. New findings—based on an analysis of mitochondrial genomes—have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggest that this is the result of breeders inside an an undiscovered pre-hispanic settlement from this time. It is likely that they captured the parrots, bred them “and distributed these symbolically important birds through the [Southwestern United States],” according to the authors. Read more at Gizmodo.
Via gizmodo.com link opens in a new window
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