Abnormal Feather Phenotype Associated with a Fatal Stress Response and Unusual Tolerance to Human Contact in the Zebra Finch (<i>Taeniopygia castanotis</i>).

ABSTRACT: The zebra finch (Taeniopygia castanotis) is a songbird sold in the pet trade and commonly used in research. In this report, we describe a set of partially overlapping traits shared by 3 birds in 2 broods from the same nest box that included atypical morphologic, developmental, and behavioral characteristics. The most obvious feature of this novel phenotype was feathers exhibiting a clumped appearance, which was accompanied by slow growth, delayed expression of adult plumage traits, and tameness, which we define as a lack of escape response upon handling without behavioral indicators of stress such as rapid breathing. Surprisingly, these birds also displayed a fatal response to nonhuman stressors. In one brood, a male expressed all of these characteristics, 2 females were wild-type,

SUBMITTER: West LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11078280 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature