Pre-Hispanic macaw breeding in the American Southwest

Researchers report genetic evidence of pre-Hispanic breeding of scarlet macaws, native to Central and South America, in the American Southwest. Scarlet macaws figure prominently in ancient cultures throughout northwest Mexico and the American Southwest, as evidenced by numerous macaw depictions and skeletons found at sites such as Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Although evidence of trade exists between this region and Mesoamerica, transporting macaws over such long distances presented challenges that could have been mitigated by the existence of breeding centers in the Mexican Northwest/American Southwest. Douglas J. Kennett, Stephen Plog, and colleagues examined mitochondrial DNA samples from 14 ancient macaw skeletons from Chaco Canyon and the contemporaneous Mimbres region in New Mexico, dated between 900 and 1200 CE. The authors found low genetic diversity among the ancient samples, with all specimens belonging to a single haplogroup. The results are consistent with a translocated breeding population of macaws based on a small founder population. The low genetic diversity observed is unlikely to be due to random sampling of wild macaws, given that the haplogroup identified is rare among modern macaws and the birds' movement patterns discount the possibility of an isolated population. According to the authors, the results suggest an undiscovered pre-Hispanic macaw breeding site that may have supplied macaws throughout the region for centuries.

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Article #18-05856: "Archaeogenomic evidence from the southwestern US points to a Pre-Hispanic scarlet macaw breeding colony," by Richard George et al.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Douglas J. Kennett, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; tel: 814-863-4575; e-mail: djk23@psu.edu; Stephen Plog, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA; tel: 434-760-0309; e-mail: plog@virginia.edu

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