BOHA -3

Question 1

How do birds interpret colour?

Answer 1

through cone cells in avina retina - light passes through or around nucleus of cone cell and through oil droplet which enhances the birds perception of colour and hits visual pigment allowing them to interpret colour

Question 2

what is the function of males red plumage in chickens?

Answer 2

its an attractive sexual fitness trait - females have perception of red colouring

Question 3

how many colour receptors do birds have compared to humans ?

Answer 3

4 - can see ultra violet - humans have 3

Question 4

what is the difference between avian and human hearing?

Answer 4

birds can rebuild any damaged hair cells on the sensory epithelium - humans dont have this ability once they are damaged they cant recover

Question 5

what are the 6 sensory modalities in birds?

Answer 5

1) vision
2) hearing
3) touch
4) smell
5) taste
6) echolocation

Question 6

what is the trade off between in vertebrate eye?

Answer 6

sensitivity and resolution

resolution decreases with decreasing light levels - trade off between these to limit eye size

Question 7

describe avian touch

Answer 7

ultra structures in beaks act as touch receptors - comprised of 1) grandry corpuscles 2) Herbst corpuscles

Question 8

what is an olfactory bulb and how does size affect it?

Answer 8

organ for smell, the larger the bulb the greater sense of smell - relationship between body size and bulb size - body size increases bulb size

Question 9

what bird has the largest olfactory bulb?

Answer 9

snow petrel

Question 10

where is the sensory apparatus for taste in birds?

Answer 10

taste buds are in different locations inside beak - conincide with where the bits of food go when the bird eats- no taste buds on the tongue - all associated with salivary glands

Question 11

what aspect of the 4 questions of behaviour are senses?

Answer 11

proximate