Animal Science 200 Exam 2

Cursorial Birds (Ratites)

- Flightless
- Young are precocial
- Lack of keel bone
- Ostrich, emu, rhea

psittaciformes

- Strong hooked bills
- Brilliant colors
- ability to talk
- young are altricial
- Parrots, parakeets, cockatoos, lovebird

Passeriformes

- highly developed syrinx
- young are altricial
- perching, songbirds
- Canaries, zebra finches, gouldion finch

Columbiformes

- produce crop milk
- young are alrticial
- pigeons and doves

Anseriformes

- Waterfowl
- young are precocial
- down for insulation
- Ducks and Geese

Galliformes

- Used for sport
- Good runners
- not good fliers
- few migrate
- Young are precocial
- Chickens, turkey, peacocks, pheasants

Anatomy and Characteristics of birds

- homeothermic
- four chambered heart
- oviparous
- no metamorphosis
- hinged jaw
- feathers
- small hollow bones, thin
- no abdominal diaphragm
- lungs and air sacs
- respiration is important in cooling (no sweat)

Flight adaptations in birds

- streamlined shape
- feathers
- pneumatic bones
- fused backbone
- oxygen gathering capacity

Bird Sight

- eyes are very large
- can see colors including UV
- most have monocular vision some have binocular

Monocular vision (birds)

- prey birds
- wider field of vision

Binocular Vision (birds)

- predator birds
- good depth perception

Bird hearing

- hears in the same range as humans
- ear is used for balance, like it is in mammals

Bird Smell and taste

- Chemoreceptor senses
- very poor taste, only 12-20 taste buds
- may be better developed in other birds, like parrots and vultures

Urogenital System (birds)

- removes nitrogenous waste, water, and other non-essential material
- Uric Acid
- No bladder
- No liquid urine

Bird migration

- day length and migration
- sight

Bird nutrition and feeding

- Great variability
- seed eaters
- fruit eaters
- nectar eaters
- carnivores

Bird digestive system

- Beak (no teeth)
- esophagus
- crop
- proventriculus
- gizzard
- ventriculus
- duodenal loop
- pancreas
- small intestine
- liver
-spleen
- ceca
- gall bladder
- big intestine
- cloaca

Cecum

- lots of bacteria and protozoa
- digest things that couldn't be digested before

Human food feeding method (birds)

- eat what we eat
- advantages: no special food to buy and offers variety
- offers grains, fruits and veggies, proteins, dairy (very little)
- disadvantages: easy to pick favorites, lots of waste, spoils easily

Pellet feeding method (birds)

- Mixing everything together
- advantages: eliminates favorites, harder to spoil
- disadvantages: lack of variety, difficult to switch to pellets after another method

Seed diet (birds)

- cheap, easy to store, very available
- disadvantages: high fat, not a balanced diet

Grit (birds)

- rocks, oyster shells, limestone,
- can be a calcium source for eggs and shells
- helps further grind up food

Hand feeding baby birds

- better connection with bird
- have to keep humidity and temp correct
- should be runny and moist
- wean around 4-8 weeks of age

Tube feeding (gavage)

- fast
- cleaner
- better measure of consumption
- stick tube down throat into the stomach and put food directly into stomach

Spoon feeding

- cheaper
- may seem "nicer"
- need to feed every 2 hrs first week

Birds and Territory

- very territorial
- will attack others and themselves in glass (robin)

Cavity nests

- many cage birds use them
- would be tree holes in nature

Bird Mating

- photoperiod: day length
- long day breeders
- courtship is important and can be elaborate

Egg-laying

- incubation starts when egg is first laid or when whole clutch as ben laid

Egg incubation

- both sexes of birds usually incubate the eggs

Short incubation period

Altricial

Long incubation period

Precocial

Incubation conditions

T.H.A.T.
- Temperature: 100F
- Humidity
- Air: needs ventilation
- Turning

How to determine viability

- Candling eggs
- shows the membrane and embryo

Hatchlings

- often imprint on humans with hand feeding
- precocial = chickens

Overall bird health

- hard to recognize at first
- they mask illness
- when you notice a problem then its usually really bad

Signs of health problems (bird)

- change in droppings
- weight loss
- fluffed feathers and huddling
- respiratory signs
- behavioral changes
- sleeping more, vocalizing less

Bird disease prevention

- proper husbandry
- clean
- space for exercise
- good nutrition
- clean water
- psychological stimulation
- vaccines
- good biosecurity

How bird diseases are spread

- people are common carriers
- some disease can be spread by flies, mosquitos, rats, or mice, even other birds
- poor biosecurity

Biosecurity (birds)

- limit contact with other birds
- change clothes
- keep other animals away
- quarantine if possible

Viral bird disease

- pox (wet and dry)
- herpes
- PBFD (psittacine beak and feather disease)

Feather loss

- can be caused by a lot of things
- health issues
- nutritional imbalances
- psychological problems
- normal molt

Avain influenza

- mostly respiratory
- sudden death with some strains
- important issue in the last few years
- mutates often

Bacterial bird diseases

- tuberculosis (common)
- mycoplasmosis: in galiformes, respiratory
- salmonella
- psittacosis: parrot fever

Protozoal bird diseases

- coccidiosis: damages intestines
- giardiasis: people can get it

Fungal bird diseases

- candidiasis: yeast infection, sour crop
- from poor hygiene

Parasitic bird diseases

- lice and mites
- air sac mites
- worms

Non infectious bird diseases

- Hypocalcemia: low calcium, bean and bone deformities
- Obesity
- toxic agents: carbon monoxide, salt, lead and zinc

Other health

- trim beak and nails
- wing clipping

General characteristics of Mammals

- produce milk for young
- brain is more advanced
- parental care is more advanced
- skin rich in glands
- quadruped

Anatomical characteristics of Mammals

- presence of hair
- skeletal differences (growth plate)
- lungs hang freely in cavity of chest
- diaphragm
- 4 chambered heart
- non nucleated RBCs
- homeothermic
- viviparous
- ova are small and nearly yolk less

functions of hair

- insulation
- camouflage
- protection
- sensory organs: whiskers
- communication

Monotremes

- oviparous
- duck billed platypus
- spiny anteaters

Marsupials

- viviparous
- short gestation: rest in pouch
- kangaroos, sugar gliders

True placental animals

- all other mammals
- young attached to the mother by a complicated placenta
- gestation lasting from weeks to 22-24 months

Placenta

- tissue develops from embryo
- tissue is parallel to uterine wall
- vascular systems are side-by-side so nutrients and wastes transport across
- developing fetus is somewhat protected

Eating habits of mammals

- Carnivores: cats and ferrets
- Herbivores: gerbils, hamsters, rabbits
- Omnivores: mouse, sugar gliders, rat

Mammal habitats

- terrestrial
- some fly
- some are aquatic
- some are arboreal

Diurnal

- active during the day
- dogs

Nocturnal

- active during the night time
- cats, hedgehogs

crepuscular

- active at dawn and dusk

plantigrade

- walking on palms
- human and bears

digitigrade

- up on tip toes or finger tips
- heel is up off ground
- cat and dog

unguligrade

- hooved animals
- walking on nails/toenails
- heel bone is far up leg

Puberty

- period during which secondary sex characteristics being to develop and the capability of sexual reproduction is attained
- long bone growth stops

Rat and Mice reproduction

- polyestrous
- cycle is around 4-5 days

Proestrus

- FSH level increases
- some follicles being to grow and mature
- stimulated follicles produce estrogen
- estrogen produces secondary sexual development

FSH

- Follicle stimulating hormone
- egg cells inside of follicles on the ovaries
- from pituitary gland

Estrus

- FSH and estrogen levels high
- progesterone level is low
- only time female will accept male
- surge of LH occurs

LH

- luteinizing hormone
- causes egg to rupture or release egg cell
- from pituitary gland

Metestrus (ovulation)

- Follicle opens and releases egg cell down
- Estrogen goes down along with FSH

Progesterone

- secreted by Corpus Luteum
- acts at the pituitary to block the LH surge thus preventing ovulation
- maintains pregnancy

Oxytocin

- produced by the posterior pituitary
- causes uterine contractions
- stimulates birth

Prostaglandin (PGF2a)

- destroys the corpus luteum
- stimulates production of relaxin

Estrogen

- produced by cells in the follicle
- necessary for development of secondary sex characteristics in the female
- stimulates estrus (heat)

Relaxin

- relaxes cervix, pelvic bones
- blood level increase prior to the onset of labor

Prolactin

- stimulates milk release
- initiates milk secretion after parturition
- stimulates maternal behavior

Parturition

- the process of giving birth

Diestrus

- corpus luteum froms in ruptured follicle
- progesterone level is high
- if no pregnancy, corpus letup regresses and new cycle beings
- prostaglandin causes cl regression and progesterone will fall

Follicular phase

- first half of the estrous cycle

Luteal phase

- second half of the estrous cycle

Spontaneous ovulation

- certain cycle based on time
- rats and mice

Induced ovulation

- outside stimulus to induce ovulation
- rabbits and hares
- still have a cycle but need male to cause ovulation

Average litter size (mice and rats)

- mice: 4-7
- rats: 6-10

Postpartum and lactation (mice and rats)

- immediate postpartum estrus in mice and rats
- can get pregnant again a day or two after giving birth
- lactation is 3 weeks

Menstrual cycle

- average 28 days
- follicular phase is days 1-13
- day 14: ovulation
- day 14-15: fertilization (in oviduct)
- Day 20: implantation
- Day 14-28: luteal phase
- uterine lining is shed every cycle
- most animals do not do this

Testes

- manufacturing lots of sperm
- temp cells continually divide and renew themselves

Epididymis

- storage
- lowest point of the testis, which are outside the body (its cooler, sperm won't die)
- Birds also have an epididymis

Accessory sex glands

- for final modifications
- adds fluids to sperm to help them move through the female tract
- seminal plasma
- different species have different glands

Penis

- deliver to female tract

Testosterone

- stimulates testes to produce sperm

LH (males)

- acts on cells in the testes to stimulate testosterone production

FSH (males)

- stimulates testes to produce sperm and is important to start this process during puberty

Rodentia

- largest mammalian order (1500 species)
- mammals with four special teeth
- 2 upper and 2 lower chisel-like incisors
- no canines
- molars for chewing
- rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, chinchillas
- herbivorous
- teeth need to be worn down
- young are pups and altricial
- very short reproductive cycles and gestation periods

Cecum Function

- animals can't digest fiber well
- cecum provides animal with microorganisms to digest the fiber

Advantages of keeping rodents

- take up less space
- less expensive
- short lifespans
- clean
- low maintenance
- durable with kids

Rats (general)

- numerous species
- can be very destructive
- reproduce quickly
- nocturnal
- lots of colors

Feeding for rats

- commercial pellets
- supplement with fruits and veggies
- can use human foods
- can feed grass hay and oats
- treats
- water

Housing for rats

- 2 cubic feet per rat is suggested
- wire spacing: 1/2 in. spaces are best
- metal is best (chew through wood)
- bedding: wood shavings, newspaper, pelleted paper products
- enrichment toys are good to have too

Health for rats

- tumors are common
- mammary and pituitary tumors (can be surgically removed)
- Sendai virus: flu-like symptoms
- SDA virus