AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Like rare gems or high-end cars today, the colorful feathers of parrots and macaws were once signs of wealth and status in the pre-Columbian Americas. The feathers adorned the clothes and headdresses of elites and even carried spiritual significance.
JOSE CAPRILES: You know, in a place with so limited resources and so limited color, if you think about it - there were not a lot of sources of brightly colored things - these feathers were incredibly important.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
That's Jose Capriles of Penn State. He says the birds were raised and nurtured for their feathers and sometimes ritually mummified.