Avian ophthalmology Free ranging birds are highly dependent on accurate vision in order to capture prey and forage, to avoid predators, and to find suitable perches and shelter. Perfect, or near-perfect, ocular health is imperative to survival for most free living avian species. While perfect vision is less vital for the captive companion parrot, it is nevertheless important to recognize and tr...

Faecal samples were individually collected from pet (n = 63) and zoo (n = 83) birds representing 14 orders and 63 species. All the samples were examined by faecal flotation technique. In a subgroup of samples (n = 75), molecular assays were also used to detect Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia duodenalis cysts. Overall, 35.6% of the birds harboured parasites (42.2% of zoo birds and 27% of pet...

a captive adult common mynah (acridotheres tristis) died shortly after a course of seizure and opisthotonous with an illness characterized by severe lethargy, depression, loss of appetite, polyurate, and urate discoloration. abdominal distention and hepatomegly, visible over the abdominal skin, were noticed clinically. at necropsy, severe enlargement of liver with general discoloration was obvi...

Influenza A virus is always concerned as an infectious agent in birds and other mammalian such as humans. Although it is believed that barriers among various species restrict the transmission of influenza viruses, there are evidences implying that origin of all human influenza viruses is derived from avian influenza viruses. To determine the prevalence of human H1 and H3 viruses in the captive ...

Background and Aims: Influenza A virus infects birds and some mammalian including human. H1 and H3 subtypes are circulated in both human and birds’ population. To determine the prevalence of the mentioned subtypes in birds, different captive bird species in Tehran zoo, and affiliated centers in Tehran were investigated for virus infection. Methods: In this study, Between November 2008 and...

The objective of present study was identification of genetic similarity between wild Iran and captive Azerbaijan Pheasant using PCR-RAPD markers. For this purpose, in overall, 28 birds were taken for DNA extraction and subsequently 15 arbitrary primers were applied for PCR-RAPD technique. After electrophoresis, five primers exhibited sufficient variability which yielded overall 65 distinct band...

The occurrence of proventricular dilatation disease caused by avian bornavirus (ABV) in captive psittacine birds has long been suspected in South Africa. This report documents the first detection by polymerase chain reaction and gene sequence analyses of ABV from three clinical cases of proventricular dilatation disease (PDD) in captive bred blue and gold macaws (Araara rauna) resident in t...

BACKGROUND Avian bornaviruses are a genetically diverse group of viruses initially discovered in 2008. They are known to infect several avian orders. Bornaviruses of parrots and related species (Psittaciformes) are causative agents of proventricular dilatation disease, a chronic and often fatal neurologic disease widely distributed in captive psittacine populations. Although knowledge has consi...

Hatching failure is a surprisingly common phenomenon given that natural selection constantly works against it. In birds, an average of about 10 per cent of eggs across species fail to hatch, often owing to the death of embryos. While embryo mortality owing to inbreeding is both well-documented and evolutionarily plausible, this is not true for other sources of mortality. In fact, the basis for ...