Bird 2 Flashcards
Common features of avian anatomy
o Shaped and constrained by flight
o High metabolism
o Physiologically extreme
o Birds are reptiles, some similarities are expected
avian beak structure
Avian beak: Keratin layer = ramphotheca (rhinotheca + gnatotheca)
>2 parts
funny things birds have on their heads
-knob
-casque
-comb
-wattles
-snoot
-creast
types of bird feet
Cursorial - ostrich (2 toes in front)
Raptors
Perching
Webbed
different bird feet toe configurations (that are important to us)
anisodactyl - 3 front, 1 back (almost all species)
zygodactyl - X-shape: 2 front, 2 back (almost all the parrots)
important pads on bird foot and why its important
-metatarsal pad - common site for dermatitis
-digital pads
> many foot issues in practice
main roles of feathers
o Flight
o Insulation
o Communication o Sensitive
types of feathers
o Contour feathers (flight and covert feathers)
o Down feathers (includes powder down)
o Bristles
o Filoplumes (simplified covert feathers)
feather anatomy
ranchis in the middle, vanes radiate out
calamus at base (quil)
> each vane has small barbs and hooks of distal barbules
types offeathers
tail, flight, semiplume, filoplume, bristle, down
flight feathers - where they attach, anatomical division
attach to periosteum of the bone
Primary remiges > 10 feathers inward from wing tip
Secondary remiges > on caudal wing aspect
apteric areas
have no feathers
plumage maintenance
o Molting
- Frequency varies
- Pattern varies
o Preening
- Use uropygial gland on the rump
- Use beak
- Use powder down feathers
o Water and dust bath (+ rain)
‘preening gland’ real name and purpose
uropygial gland - make feathers nice and waterproof
structure of bird skeleton - main adaptations for flight
- Pneumatization of most bones by the air sac system
o Except distal wing and legs
o Species variation - Fusion of bones
o Carpometacarpus
o Tibiotarsus
o Vertebral column (notarium, synsacrum, pygostyle)
what bones are fused in birds
o Carpometacarpus
o Tibiotarsus
o Vertebral column (notarium, synsacrum, pygostyle)
bones of the pectoral girdle
-scapula
-coracoid bone
-clavicle
> different from mammals
spring mechanism for flight: components - muscles, bones
m. supracoracoideus - goes through triosseal canal
- sternum
- coracoid
- clavicle
- humerus
m . pectoralis
what is cranial kinesis? who can do it
forward motion in beak, esp. in parrots
important flight muscles
-M. supracoideus > goes through hole, inner
-M. pectorlais, outer
Coelomic Cavities: what ones are present
- Extremely complex in birds
o Pleural and pericardial cavities - Lungs
o 4 hepatoperitoneal cavities - Liver
o 1 intestinoperitoneal cavities - All abdominal organs
- Abdominal air sac
o Cranial group of air sac are in subpulmonary cavity (not a coelomic cavity)
subcavity devisions of celomic cavity, and what they contain
-Subpulmonary cavity (contains cranial air sacs)
-Hepatoperitoneal cavities (contain liver)
-Intestinoperitoneal cavity (contain organs + abd air sac)
a very different system in birds compared to mammals, and why important
respiratory - important for anesthesia and treatment of resp disease
differences in bird resp system
- complete tracheal rings
- sound produced by syrinx
- presence of large air sacs
- respiratory system pneumatizes most bones and cavities
- cross-current gas exchange