What Ancient DNA Revealed About Andean Parrots Has Shocked Every Scientist Who Studied Them

Ancient DNA extracted from parrot feathers buried inside an elite tomb at Pachacamac, on the Peruvian coast, produced one of the most overturning findings in the history of animal domestication in the Americas — not because of which species were traded, but because the birds had been carried alive over the Andes and kept on the coast for weeks, fed by human hands, centuries before anyone thought that was possible.