Researchers Discover an Ancient Parrot Bone in Mexico, Indicating Ancient Indigenous Parrot Trade

Indigenous communities in the American Southwest have been importing colorful parrots from Mexico for centuries.

However, according to a recent study, some parrots may have been captured locally rather than transported from afar.

The study calls into question the widely held belief that all parrot remains discovered in American Southwest archaeological sites originated in Mexico.

It also serves as a timely reminder that the ecology of the past can be quite different from what we see today.

Old bone links lost American parrot to ancient Indigenous bird trade

(Photo : paolo candelo/Unsplash)

When dealing with natural history, we can limit ourselves by relying too heavily on the present, according to the study's author, John Moretti, a doctoral candidate at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences, as per ScienceDaily.

"These bones can give us kind of a baseline view of the animal life of the ecosystems that surrounded us before huge major changes that continue to this day," Moretti said.

The study was published in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology's September issue.

Parrot remains have been discovered in elaborate graves and buried in trash heaps in southwestern archaeological sites dating back to the 7th or 8th centuries.

However, no matter the condition, when archaeologists discovered parrot bones, they usually assumed the animals were imports, said Moretti.

There's a reason for this. Scarlet macaws, the most common parrot found in archaeological sites, live in rainforests and savannahs that do not exist in the local landscape.

In addition, researchers discovered the remains of ancient parrot breeding facilities in Mexico, indicating a thriving parrot trade.

However, parrots are more than just macaws. Moretti discovered a single ankle bone from a species known as the thick-billed parrot in 2018.

It was discovered as part of an unsorted bone collection during an archaeological dig in New Mexico in the 1950s.

Because of habitat loss and hunting, thick-billed parrots are an endangered species that no longer exists in the United States.

But this was not the case even a short time ago. Their range used to extend from Arizona and New Mexico to northern Mexico, where they now live.

The boisterous, lime-green birds are also picky about their surroundings. They only live in mountainous old-growth pine forests, where they nest in tree hollows and eat pine cones almost exclusively.

Moretti decided to look into the link between pine forests in New Mexico and Arizona and the remains of thick-billed parrots discovered at archaeological sites.

He discovered that all of the buildings at the ten archaeological sites with positively identified thick-billed parrot remains were made of pine timber, with one settlement requiring an estimated 50,000 trees. And suitable pine forests were within seven miles of the settlement for half of the sites.

Moretti identified the lone bone that sparked the research using thick-billed parrot bones from the United States and Mexico that had been permanently archived in compilations at The University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and the Smithsonian Institution. 

According to Mark Robbins, an evolutionary biologist, and the collection manager of The University of Kansas' ornithological collections, this study demonstrates the importance of natural history collections and the numerous ways they aid in research.

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Implications of wildlife trafficking

Wildlife trafficking can deplete species populations and lead to local or even global extinction, as per UNODC.

When endangered species are involved, any poaching or harvesting to supply the illegal trade risks causing the species to become extinct.

Furthermore, the demand for larger and more ornate specimens means that hunters and collectors frequently target the fittest individuals from the breeding population, with serious consequences for future generations.

Furthermore, many endangered species are delicate and necessitate expert and delicate handling.

However, the methods by which many animals and plants are caught, transported and kept frequently result in injury, death, or attrition, resulting in additional losses, particularly when living animals or plants are trafficked.

Aside from the direct negative biological impact on specific species, the illegal wildlife trade can have indirect conservation consequences.

The two most obvious examples are harmful non-target species bycatch and the introduction of harmful alien species into a habitat.

By-catch is especially common in the fishing industry: nets, lines, and other fishing gear used to catch the desired fish will also catch everything else in their path, including turtles, dolphins, and juvenile fish.

Terrestrial examples include the effects of logging and waterfowl hunting on non-target species.

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