Discovered Mummified Birds Transported Hundreds Of Miles Across The Longest Mountain Range In The World While Alive 

A research has found that vendors used to transport parrots across the Andes a millennium ago to barter their colorful feathers to consumers in the Atamaca desert. The examination of 6 embalmed species showed that the birds were carried more than 300 miles from their homeland, in the eastern Amazon, to the arid land across the mountain range.

Source: PNAS

The parrots were captured alive from their habitats, held in cages tied to llamas, sustaining on corn. Meanwhile, vendors frequently plucked their vibrant feathers, highly valuable items in pre-Columbian societies across South America, with owners conserving them in cases and often being buried with them.
The significance of plumages has long been identified among the South American societies prior to the invasion of the Spanish, however, the mysteryous reasons for mummifying the parrots haven’t been clarified. Experts conducted researches on 27 samples, either whole or partially preserved.

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They used device to suck out the birds’ innards out via their cloaca, the same orifice which their waste is excreted through, and then wrapped in cloth or bags. Researchers say that they did not know the motives behind.
The embalmed were found to date back to 900 years ago, from 6 species: the scarlet macaw, blue-and-yellow macaw, mealy amazon, yellow-crowned amazon, blue-fronted amazon, and mitred conure. Isotope analysis of their remains indicated that they did not die within the same location of their birth, showing that they ended up in the Atacama deserts, the driest place in the world, after having been carried across the continent in the Amazon rainforest.

Source: PNAS

Researchers believe traders used llama caravans to haul the birds across the 10,000ft high Andes mountain range, battling cold weather and rough terrain. They say that llamas weren’t strong enough to be the most useful animals in terms of packing, which surprises them as traders were able to utilize the animals to carry birds across the Andes and the dry desert to this oasis, keeping the birds alive through huge steppes, cold weather and difficult terrain.
Experts also claim that the parrots could not cross the mountain range themselves. Additionally, they believe that the animals were in far worse condition than the accredited animal rights standard today, as some birds were kept just for their plumage, which was plucked out as soon as it grew to an extent.

Source: PNAS

Researchers also found evidence of the parrots with trimmed claws and beaks, proving that they might have been under these circumstances for very long. Most of their remains date back to between 1100 and 1450 AD, from the end of the Tiwanaku empire and the beginning of the Inca empire.
The period was attributed to warfare time, which was also surprisingly great time for commerce, as evidence of llama carvans moving about was found. The majority of the mummies were found at Pica 8, an archaeological site near an oasis community that still exists today as a trade hub.
H/T: PNAS