Wing-flapping develops in chickens made flightless by feather mutations.

R R Provine

doi:10.1002/dev.420140510

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Wing-flapping develops in chickens made flightless by feather mutations.

R R Provine

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Abstract

Two lines of mutant, domestic chickens (scaleless and delayed feathering), flightless because they lack flight feathers, were used to evaluate the influence of flight-related experience and adaptation on the development of wing-flapping. Most testing was at 13 days because normally feathered control chicks of this age flap at adult rates and can fly. By 13 days, the wing-flapping rates of the flightless, mutant chicks and the normally feathered and flight-competent control chicks were similar. Therefore, normal adult rates of wing-flapping developed in the absence of flight-related behavioral consequences. Drop-evoked wing-flapping was probably initiated by vestibular mechanisms: feather-related mechanoreceptor and visual cues were not necessary because flapping was initiated by naked, scaleless chicks which were deprived of visual input by masking their eyes or by testing in a darkened room. The possible role of feather mutations in the evolution of avian flightlessness is also considered.

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Adaptation, Physiological Age Factors Animals Chickens Cues Darkness Feathers Flight, Animal Mutation Wings, Animal Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

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R R Provine. 1981. Wing-flapping develops in chickens made flightless by feather mutations.. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.420140510

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