A Yorkshire laboratory is trying to find out where a rare parrot has come from

If it was bred in captivity then there’s no problem.

If it was illegally trafficked from a tropical rainforest, then the owner will be in *just a bit* of bother.

Reader, this is a thread about why museums belong on CSI

(and how they are incredibly useful resources in real life ginuwine situations)

Where a bird has lived is literally written in its feathers.

Guys buckle in we’re about to do science

Isotopes are types of atoms that occur in different concentrations in different parts of the world.

If a bird has been living and eating in a particular place, the isotopes in its feathers will be the same as other birds from the same place.

The same goes for humans!

Which means that our atoms are made up of Leeds and @Bundobust vada pavs, just like every other person living in this, the greatest city in the world

(Except in humans they usually use teeth to tell this, not feathers, because er we don’t have them)

we checked this with @CuratorClare because it sounded too good to be true and omg

The lab called on us, their local 9 friendly museums and galleries, to help them out.

They asked us to compare the feathers of the rare parrot with feathers of birds from the tropics.

We have lots (and lots) of birds, collected over the last 200 years from all over the world, and now they’re helping their living counterparts on the frontline of tackling wildlife crime

@CuratorClare calls our specimens ‘little ambassadors’ and we think that’s lovely

and in conclusion