ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) — The critically
endangered Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona
vittata) is the only surviving parrot species native to the United States.
A genomic sequencing project, funded by community donations, has published
September 28, in BioMed Central and BGI's open access journal GigaScience, the first sequence of A. vittata, the first of the large
Neotropical Amazona birds to be studied at the genomic level.
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| Photo: Wikipedia |
The Puerto Rican
Parrot was once abundant throughout Puerto Rico but destruction of old forest
habitats to make way for farming in the 19th Century resulted in a drastic
decline in their population. By the mid 1970's only a handful of individuals
were thought to remain. Captive breeding programs in Rio Abajo and El Yunque
and the release of these birds have had some success, but the number of these
birds in the wild is still very low.
In a unique
initiative (developing of the Local Community Involvement), funded entirely by
contributions from the communities of Puerto Rico alongside staff and students
from the Biology Department of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez,
researchers collaborated internationally to sequence this beautiful parrot.
more information on the Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata):
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