Using ancient chicken DNA, researchers at the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) have attempted to trace the migration of the Polynesian chicken.
The results, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is designed to learn more about the people who carried the chickens. By doing so the team hopes to be able to trace the movements of ancient people in the Pacific.
Earlier research had suggested that Polynesians had contact with South America prior to the arrival of Columbus and the early European explorers. By using a unique genetic marker found in Polynesian chickens the researchers were able to trace the trading routes of the people who bred the animals.
Read the full, original story: Why, when and how did the chicken cross the Pacific
