# How did barn owls reach the Americas? DNA offers an unexpected answer

Source: [Earth.com](https://www.earth.com/animals/how-did-barn-owls-reach-the-americas-dna-offers-an-unexpected-answer/) · 2026-11-14 · Earth & Climate
Page: https://themorning.science/story/how-did-barn-owls-reach-the-americas-dna-offers-an-unexpected-answer-a541afb808c06300
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- The common assumption was that barn owls reached the Americas overland from Asia and then spread to offshore islands.
- DNA evidence suggests the owls reached the Caribbean by a different route than the one long assumed.

## Why it matters

Genetic data can overturn long-held assumptions about how species colonised new continents, which matters for reconstructing animal population histories.

## Coverage

- [How did barn owls reach the Americas? DNA offers an unexpected answer](https://www.earth.com/animals/how-did-barn-owls-reach-the-americas-dna-offers-an-unexpected-answer/) — Earth.com, 2026-11-14

Tags: barn owls, biogeography, genomics, caribbean, population history

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science