Depriving homing pigeons of olfactory information by spraying an 18% zinc sulphate solution onto their olfactory ephithelium results in anosmia that persists for at least 5 days (tested using the ‘orienting response’). To study whether anosmic zinc-sulphate-treated pigeons (ZnSO4-pigeons) were able to compensate for their loss of olfactory information by using familiar landmarks, we made releas...

To better understand the digestive capacity in domestic pigeons (Columba livia), this study was conducted to evaluate nutrient transporters and digestive enzymes gene expression in small intestine and yolk sac membrane (YSM) during pre- and posthatch development. We investigated the oligopeptide transporter Pept1, sodium glucose transporter SGLT1, glucose transporter GLUT2, aminopeptidase-N (AP...

Newcastle disease (ND), caused by virulent avian paramyxovirus type 1, is one of the most important diseases responsible for devastating outbreaks in poultry flocks in Ethiopia. However, the information about genetic characteristics of the Newcastle disease viruses (NDVs) circulating in commercial chickens and wild birds is scarce. In this study, we characterized isolates obtained from ND suspe...

Pigeon protozoal encephalitis (PPE) is an emerging central-nervous disease of domestic pigeons (Columba livia f. domestica) reported in Germany and the United States. It is caused by the apicomplexan parasite Sarcocystis calchasi which is transmitted by Accipter hawks. In contrast to other members of the Apicomplexa such as Toxoplasma and Plasmodium, the knowledge about the pathophysiology and ...

Generation of neurons in the brains of adult birds has been studied extensively in the telencephalon of song birds and few studies are reported on the distribution of PCNA and DCX in the telencephalon of adult non-song learning birds. We report here on adult neurogenesis throughout the brains of two breeds of adult domestic pigeons (Columba livia domestica), the racing homer and utility carneau...

The way in which homing pigeons find their home lofts is still obscure despite a long history of investigation. Since the work of Kramer & St Paul (1950a, 1952) and of Matthews (1951, 1953), it has been widely believed that some homing pigeons possess the ability to navigate. This belief is now based on the results obtained by many workers (see Schmidt-Koenig, 1965, for a critical review), whic...