According to the authors, the findings may assist clarify the practice of breeding and keeping macaws in the Americas.
The birds are belonging to the jungles of Mexico and Central America but were transported and kept by individuals as far north as the desert Southwest in what is now the United States as early as the 600s. Contemporary specialists are unsure specifically why scarlet macaws were bred and translocated.
Recommendation: “Scarlet macaw (Ara macao) breeding at the Mimbres historical site of Old Town (early AD 1100s) in Southwestern New Mexico” by Cyler Conrad, Kimberly Wurth, Travis Tenner, Benjamin Naes, Steven A LeBlanc, Darrell Creel, Katharine Williams and E Bradley Beacham, 13 June 2023, PNAS Nexus.DOI: 10.1093/ pnasnexus/pgad138.
Proof from the Old Town archeological site recommends scarlet macaws were reproduced in todays New Mexico in the 1100s, preceding recognized reproducing websites in Northwestern Mexico.
According to an analysis of eggshell pieces found at the Old Town archaeological site, scarlet macaws (Ara macao) were being reproduced in what is now New Mexico during the 1100s. Cyler Conrad and his group studied six of these eggshell pieces, which were found along with the articulated remains of a macaw. The eggshells are indirectly dated to the early 1100s by previous bone radiocarbon dating of the macaw.
Using a non-destructive scanning electron microscope, the authors searched for proof of fetal advancement inside the eggs, which can be inferred from the reabsorption of a layer of eggshell called the mammillary cone. Five specimens showed clear proof of reabsorption, and the samples consisted of at least 2 separate eggs, based upon the developmental ages recognized.
The existence of fertilized scarlet macaw eggs at this website strongly suggests macaw breeding was taking place at Old Town in the 1100s. This is the very first proof of macaw reproducing north of Paquimé, in Northwestern Mexico, where macaw breeding was understood to occur after 1275.