Magnetoreception remains one of the few unsolved mysteries in sensory biology. The upper beak, which is innervated by the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve (V1), has been suggested to contain magnetic sensors based on ferromagnetic structures. Recently, its existence in pigeons has been seriously challenged by studies suggesting that the previously described iron-accumulations are macro...

The paratympanic organ (PO) in birds is a specialised sensory organ whose function is still unknown. G. Vitali, who first described the PO from observations of the behaviour of PO-lesioned pigeons, proposed that this organ was needed to maintain normal wing muscle function and called it the 'organ of flight'. This interpretation has since been disputed. To solve this controversy and to test whe...

Fatalities among avian species due to multiple bee stings are rare. Sixteen pigeons on a farm in Bangladesh each suffered multiple bee stings. Ten of the pigeons died before treatment, 5 (4–11 stings) died within 12 hr after treatment, and 1 pigeon (only 3 stings) survived. Body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, hematocrit, hemoglobin, erythrocytes, thrombocytes, MCV, MCH and MCHC decr...

In 2 experiments involving computer-rendered versions of single shapes or "geons," the extent to which depth rotation affects the visual discrimination performance of pigeons in both go/no-go and forced-choice tasks was documented. The pigeons were able to recognize geons at most rotations in depth; however, the pigeons' recognition performance was better at the training view than at most other...

The pigeonhole principle is a basic counting technique. It is illustrated in its simplest form as follows: We have n + 1 pigeons and n holes. We put all the pigeons in holes (in any way we want). The principle tells us that there must be at least one hole with at least two pigeons in it. Why is that true? Try to visualize the example of n = 2; therefore, we have 3 pigeons and 2 holes. Let’s try...

safe and effective sedation methods are as much important for small pet birds as for the other animals not only for surgical procedures but also for safe handling and diagnostic and clinical procedures such as radiography, wound dressing, blood collection, endoscopy and fracture repair procedures. the aim of this study is comparison of sedation efficacy in intranasal administration of xylazine,...

To date, only a few studies on the azithromycin (AZM) pharmacokinetics in ornamental birds have been published. In current study AZM concentrations domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) plasma samples were analyzed using validated ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. The aim of was to carry out an analysis and pharmacodynamics after administration si...

I. White Carneau pigeons develop genetic atherosclerosis. The aorta shows intimal cushions at birth, cholesterol accumulation at 9 months of age and definite atherosclerotic lesions by 3 years of age. To determine whether these age-related arterial changes can be prevented by dietary restriction started early in life, ymonth-old pigeons were subjected to dietary restriction (40 % of ad lib. die...

An attempt was made to test the sensitivity of homing pigeons to weak magnetic variations of the order of the ones naturally occurring on earth. Pigeons were first subjected to a cardiac orienting reflex test to 50 magnetic stimuli and to 50 control stimuli presented alone and randomly interdigitated. They were then subjected to a differential nociceptive conditioning procedure using the same m...

The field of comparative cognition has been largely concerned with the degree to which animals have analogs of the cognitive capacities of humans (e.g., imitation, categorization), but recently attention has been directed to behavior that is judged to be biased or suboptimal. We and some of our colleagues have studied several of these and have found that pigeons too show similar paradoxical beh...