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Historically, scarlet macaws lived from South America to eastern coastal Mexico and Guatemala, thousands of miles from the American Southwest. Previously, researchers thought that ancestral Puebloan people might have traveled to these natural breeding areas and brought birds back, but the logistics of transporting adolescent birds are difficult. None of the sites where these early macaw remains were found contained evidence of breeding—eggshells, pens or perches. "We were interested in the prehistoric scarlet macaw population history and the impacts of human direct management," said George. "Especially any evidence for directed breeding or changes in the genetic diversity that could co-occur...

New work on the skeletal remains of scarlet macaws found in an ancient Pueblo settlement indicates that social and political hierarchies may have emerged in the American Southwest earlier than previously thought. Researchers determined that the macaws, whose brilliant red and blue feathers are highly prized in Pueblo culture, were persistently traded hundreds of miles north from Mesoamerica starting in the early 10th century, at least 150 years before the origin of hierarchy is usually attributed. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the acquisition and control of macaws, along with other valued...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- A 49-year-old Jackson man has been arrested in Ann Arbor following a fight with the pet parrot carried in his backpack. Police told Annarbor.com for a story Wednesday that witnesses reported the colorful bird was shaken so violently that its feathers were scattered.

A FOUL-mouthed parrot previously owned by a lorry driver has been banished from public areas in a British animal sanctuary after repeatedly embarrassing his keepers. Barney, a five-year-old Macaw, is now kept indoors at Warwickshire Animal Sanctuary in Nuneaton, central England, when outsiders visit after abusing dignitaries with swearword-littered insults. "He's told a lady mayoress to f--- off and he told a lady vicar: 'And you can f--- off as well'," sanctuary worker Stacey Clark said. Nor did the forces of law and order escape, she added. "Two policemen came to have a look at the centre. He told them:...

Papers have been flapping with new headlines about the latest in a long line of alleged dinosaur ancestors of birds. This one is claimed to be a sensational dinosaur with feathers on its hind legs, thus four ‘wings’.1 This was named Microraptor gui—the name is derived from words meaning ‘little plunderer of Gu’ after the paleontologist Gu Zhiwei. Like so many of the alleged feathered dinosaurs, it comes from Liaoning province of northeastern China. It was about 3 feet (1 meter) long from its head to the tip of its long tail, but its body was only about the size...

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - The new acting director of the Transportation Security Agency says he is "hesitant" about proposals to train and voluntarily arm commercial airline pilots with deadly weapons to defend against terrorist attacks. Adm. James Loy, acting Undersecretary for Transportation Security, made the statement to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Thursday morning. "I need to learn about this and get up the learning curve very quickly," he said of proposals that the TSA screen, train, and arm pilot volunteers to serve as a last line of defense against potential terrorist hijackings. "I can say that...

In a dramatic turnaround, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has ordered the new head of the Transportation Security Administration to study options for arming the nation's 70,000 commercial pilots with "lethal force" capabilities. "It is under discussion in terms of should we take another approach," Mineta told the House Transportation Committee's aviation subcommittee during testimony on Tuesday. "I have asked [TSA Administrator James Loy] to take a look at this to see whether or not there is some alternative, even if it is lethal weapons." Loy, former head of the U.S. Coast Guard, replaced John Magaw as head of TSA last...

(KRT) - The federal government is asking airlines to eliminate size restrictions for carry-on baggage at airport security checkpoints nationwide - a shift that some warn could lead to crowded overhead bins and testy passengers.The Transportation Security Administration sent a letter to airlines last month, asking them to remove sizing templates at checkpoints, to provide consistency and offer "one standard that will allow for a smooth transition for the traveling public.""It's an effort to make the process as efficient as possible without any compromise of security," TSA spokesman Paul Turk said.For passengers with a penchant for bringing oversize bags onboard,...