Rapid exploratory field survey, to identify indigenous chicken ecotypes was conducted in north Gondar zone of Ethiopia. Chicken ecotypes including Necked neck, Gasgie and Gugut from Quara, Alefa and Tache Armacheho districts were identified, respectively. Morphological variations among the three study populations and nine measurable traits were evaluated. General linear model, canonical discrim...

I examined the degree to which population sizes of North American wintering birds exhibit spatial synchrony (autocorrelation) and local disappearances based on 30 yr of Christmas Bird Counts. The primary goal of these analyses was to determine whether processes expected in metapopulations, including low spatial synchrony, frequent local disappearances, and colonization leading to population res...

Background: Avipox virus considered to be a contagious disease of many types of birds wild and domestic. The current study focused on the isolation of recently common Avipox virus which include fowl pox (FP) and pigeon pox (PP) viruses in Iraq. Materials & methods: Isolation of the viruses was done via chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) route of avian embryo inoculation, also used by a chicken fibr...

Populations of the Bornean gliding lizard, Draco cornutus, differ markedly in the colour of their gliding membranes. They also differ in local vegetation type (mangrove forest versus lowland rainforest) and consequently, the colour of falling leaves (red and brown/black in mangrove versus green, brown and black in rainforest). We show that the gliding membranes of these lizards closely match th...

BACKGROUND Studies on popular names of birds help to understand the relationship between human beings and birds and it also contributes to the field of ornithology. METHODS This study aims to register the ethnotaxonomy of birds in the village of Pedra Branca, Santa Teresinha municipality, Bahia State, Brazil, by cataloguing and identifying their popular names, besides understanding the ethnoc...

Although blood lead levels have declined in Greenland, they are still elevated despite the fact that lead levels in the Greenland environment are very low. Fragments of lead shot in game birds have been suggested as an important source of dietary exposure, and meals of sea birds, particularly eider, contain high concentrations of lead. In a cross-sectional population survey in Greenland in 1993...

Migratory and resident hosts have been hypothesized to fulfil distinct roles in infectious disease dynamics. However, the contribution of resident and migratory hosts to wildlife infectious disease epidemiology, including that of low pathogenic avian influenza virus (LPAIV) in wild birds, has largely remained unstudied. During an autumn H3 LPAIV epizootic in free-living mallards (Anas platyrhyn...

BACKGROUND Although, use of animal species in disease treatment and culture practices is as ancient as that of plant species; however ethnomedicinal uses and cultural values of animal species have rarely been reported. Present study is the first report on the medicinal uses of mammals and bird species in Pakistan. METHODS Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were applied to collect q...