birds

Question 1

How many species of birds are there?

Answer 1

9700

Question 2

How many orders of birds are there?

Answer 2

27

Question 3

What is the size range of birds?

Answer 3

2g - 120kg. 15kg being the largest flier

Question 4

Name some members of the galliform family

Answer 4

Chicken, pheasant, peafowl, turkey and quail

Question 5

What is a normal body temperature for a bird?

Answer 5

40-42°C

Question 6

Birds have a high metabolic rate, this…

Answer 6

Increases flying efficiency and food conversion. They are fast healers

Question 7

Name energy expensive times for a bird

Answer 7

Flight, courtship and breeding, moulting and growth (for altricial birds)

Question 8

How do birds conserve heat?

Answer 8

Down feathers, shivering pectorals, put head under wing, sitting down and roosting/huddling

Question 9

How do birds loose heat?

Answer 9

Extend wings, airsacs, shade seeking/bathing, thermal panting (ostrich) and gular fluttering

Question 10

How are a bird’s different senses?

Answer 10

Excellent vision, good hearing, poor smell/taste, good touch

Question 11

Define poultry

Answer 11

Any member of the galliform family or domestic waterfowl, e.g. chicken, duck, goose, turkey, guineafowl, etc.

Question 12

What are chickens beaks made of?

Answer 12

Keratin

Question 13

What is the function of scleral ossicles?

Answer 13

The keep the eye under pressure during flight

Question 14

What kind of vision do birds have?

Answer 14

Colour vision, binocular vision and infrared vision

Question 15

What is a nictitating membrane?

Answer 15

A membrane that forms an inner eyelid in birds, reptiles and some mammals, it protects the eye from dust and keeps it moist

Question 16

What is unusual about the iris in birds?

Answer 16

The iris muscle is striated and under voluntary control

Question 17

What are cryptochromes?

Answer 17

Molecules in the retina which undergo a chemical reaction that is sensitive to magnetic forces, birds use these to navigate during migration

Question 18

What are the different types of feet in birds?

Answer 18

Digitigrade - walk on their toes
Anisodactyl - claw-like
Zygodactyl - two yes forward and two back
Palmate - usually webbed

Question 19

What do birds use feathers for?

Answer 19

Flight, temperature regulation, behaviour (e.g. courtship)

Question 20

How do birds maintain their feathers?

Answer 20

Relocking barbs, using preen gland with vitamin d. Dust bathing. Pigeons and parrots have powder down

Question 21

What behavioural uses do feathers have?

Answer 21

Courtship display,an territorial display, plucking down to line nest, brooding young

Question 22

Name human uses for feathers

Answer 22

Down for pillows/duvets, fishing flies, feed protein

Question 23

What happens when birds moult?

Answer 23

They moult their feathers in a strict sequence so they can always maintain the ability to fly (except waterfowl). The new feather pushes the old one out, blood and nutrients stay in the shaft until the feather is grown, then they are reabsorbed

Question 24

What do birds use their tail for?

Answer 24

Balance for flying (lie a rudder), courtship displays etc.

Question 25

Do birds have sweat glands?

Answer 25

No

Question 26

What is a brood patch?

Answer 26

A featherless patch if skin on the underside of the bird, transfers heat to eggs better

Question 27

Why is leg meat in older chickens red?

Answer 27

Because it is high in myoglobin

Question 28

Name the bones in a wing

Answer 28

Humerus, radius, ulna, alula, fused metacarpals and digits

Question 29

Name the bones in a leg

Answer 29

Femur, stifle, tibiotarsus, hock, tarsometatarsus (or shank), spur and digits

Question 30

Function of sternum (breastbone)

Answer 30

Flying muscle attachment

Question 31

Function of clavicle (wishbone)

Answer 31

Protects thoracic inlet

Question 32

Function of caracoid

Answer 32

Stabalises flight muscles

Question 33

Function of notarium

Answer 33

Fused thoracic vertebrae, for flight stability

Question 34

Function of synsacrum

Answer 34

Stability for walking

Question 35

Function of pygostyle

Answer 35

Support for tail

Question 36

What do seabirds drink?

Answer 36

Seawater, they excrete salt out of salt gland dorsal to orbit which drains to nostrils where it is sneezed out.

Question 37

Which us more important to birds? Texture or taste of food?

Answer 37

Texture

Question 38

Why do birds have a GI tract with a low volume?

Answer 38

To reduce weight for flight

Question 39

What is another name for the proventriculus?

Answer 39

The glandular stomach

Question 40

What does the gizzard act as?

Answer 40

Teeth

Question 41

What do birds excrete nitrogenous waste as?

Answer 41

Uric acid as semi-solid urates

Question 42

Where is uric acid stored before being excreted?

Answer 42

In the coprodeum until faeces is voided

Question 43

Name the 3 parts of the cloaca

Answer 43

Coprodeum (rectum), urodeum(ureters and genital ducts) and proctodeum

Question 44

What does blood bypass during stress?

Answer 44

The kidneys

Question 45

What is different about a bird's lungs

Answer 45

They do not expand, air is pushed through them by airsacs

Question 46

What ensures unidirectional airflow in a bird's respiratory tract?

Answer 46

Valves and airsacs

Question 47

When does fresh air pass over the lungs?

Answer 47

During inspiration and expiration

Question 48

Many birds are sexually monomorphic, what does this mean?

Answer 48

The males and females look the same

Question 49

What happens to the gonads prior to the breeding season?

Answer 49

The hypothalamus detects a change in day length, this causes an increase in GnRH, which in turn causes the pituitary gland to produce FSH/LH which initiates gonadogenesis

Question 50

What sex chromosomes do birds have?

Answer 50

Males are xx and females are xy

Question 51

In birds, which ovary is functional, and what happens if that one is damaged?

Answer 51

Only the left ovary is functional, if it gets damaged the right may begin to function as as a testis, she would look and act like a male, but still be genetically female

Question 52

Name the parts of the ovary and oviduct

Answer 52

Follicles, infundibulum, magnum, isthmus, uterus/shell gland, vagina and vent

Question 53

How often do chickens lay an egg?

Answer 53

Every 25 hours

Question 54

Describe the production of an egg

Answer 54

A mature ovum (yolk) is shed from a ruptured follicle in the ovary into the infundibulum of the oviduct, where it is fertilised (15mins). Albumen (egg white) is added in the magnum (3hrs). Shell membrane is added in isthmus (1.5hrs). Shell and pigment is added in uterus (20hrs). 1 min in vagina

Question 55

When does a hen ovulate?

Answer 55

30mins after laying, unless it is dark by then, then she skips a day

Question 56

What factors can affect fertility?

Answer 56

Feeding, light levels, number of females to males

Question 57

How long is incubation for chickens?

Answer 57

21 days

Question 58

What is unusual about a bird's RBCs?

Answer 58

They are nucleated

Question 59

What part of the nervous system is larger in flying birds?

Answer 59

Bronchial plexus

Question 60

What part of the nervous system is larger in terrestrial birds?

Answer 60

Lumbosacral plexus

Question 61

Names identification methods for birds

Answer 61

Wing tags, poultry club closed rings and ring number can be tattooed under wing