Dedicated to the study of vertebrate ecology in the Pacific Northwest
Society for Northwestern
Vertebrate Biology
Breaking Story
New Evidence Indicates that The Northern Spotted Owl was introduced to North America by Pilgrims
Smallpox wasn’t the only thing the Mayflower brought to Plymouth. New environmental DNA analysis conducted by researchers at Oregon State University corroborates entries from Captain Christopher Jones’s log: the 4 “pet owls” that survived the trip across the Atlantic Ocean and “immediately flew out of sight in a westerly direction, never to be seen again” were in fact the founding fathers (and mother) of the famed spotted owl species (Strix occidentalis) as we now know it.
