A new DNA analysis reveals that long before the Incan Empire took over Peru, animals were being transported across the Andes, a trek that also involved rainforests, highlands and deserts. 

The analysis was of parrot feathers discovered at Pachacamac, Peru, a religious hub that is far outside the birds’ native rainforest range. The burial feather assemblage included the Scarlet Macaw, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Red-and-green Macaw and Mealy Amazon. DNA sequencing, isotope chemistry and computational landscape modeling says the western side of the Andes was just as inhospitable to these species one thousand years ago as it is today.

Parrots are rainforest dwellers with a natural home range of around 70 miles, so they didn't fly 300 miles, these Amazonian macaw parrots were captured in the wild and transported for weeks or even months. That they grew new feathers in their new homes means they were kept alive on the coast for some time. It wasn't just shipping the feathers for religious headdresses.


Credit: George at WildlifeMessengers.org

The chemical signatures of the feathers show the bird diets shifted to C4 plants like maize and marine animals, and the same nitrogen-enriched diet consumed by their captors. Computer models of the landscape estimated the likely trans-Andean corridors and river routes used to transport the birds, probably through trade networks rather than one group going from origin to destination. 

The authors say this is one of the first successful DNA studies of ancient, and therefore fragile, feathers, and affirms the significance of parrots in prehistoric Andean societies.

Citation: Olah, G., Bover, P., Llamas, B. et al. Ancient DNA and spatial modeling reveal a pre-Inca trans-Andean parrot trade. Nat Commun 17, 2117 (2026). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-69167-9