Sundry Things

ofthewoodland:

A variety of creatures have been selected for the expression of colors that allow them to blend in more appropriately or appear distasteful compared to another prey item. The Pied Mossy Frog, Wilson’s Wood Nymph moth, and a Bolas spider are wonderful examples of this interesting aid to survival, for they seem to appear as bird droppings. These creatures have been known as “bird dropping mimics”. The last spider is unidentified but is still a wonderful display of camouflage. 

That frog is amazing!

    Which of these birds is sick? If you answered that the cockatiel is obviously ill you would be correct. However, if you said that perhaps one of the African Greys is sick, you would also be correct. In real life both of the Greys were healthy as can be and the ‘tiel was quite sick. The reason I put both of these photos up here is to remind everyone that many sick birds look like the Greys until they are so ill they can no longer hide it.

    The reason for this is that as a flock animal birds that don’t look quite right to the rest of the flock are picked on and shunned and invariably picked off by predators. So birds try very hard to look just like all the other healthy flock members until they just cannot do it anymore. Why does this matter to you the humble pet owner?

    Most bird owners don’t bring their pet into the vet unless it appears ill. They look in the cage and see that Sunny is fluffed up, has his eyes half closed, and is breathing rather hard. They assume that he is suddenly sick and so take him to the vet or worse, wait and see if he gets better. Of course this was not a sudden illness and the bird has been ill for a while now and so it is more serious than people may imagine.

    Once someone brings the ill bird to the vet and the doctor will take a look at it from inside the cage. Next comes the kind of scary part. These poor birds are so very ill that the stress of being taken out of the cage and handled can do them in. Many of them just cannot cope with the flood of endorphins and their hearts give out. The shock organ of birds is their lungs and so they can sometimes develop very bad breathing problems and once a doctor told me she saw a bird that hemorrhaged into its lungs so quickly that it was dead within seconds. This is why very good avian vets can get a fairly good exam just by watching the bird and then do a fast physical exam, it is quite impressive to watch. Eyes, ears, choana, keel, coelum, cloaca, and wings all examined in a minute or two. I am not quite that fast yet but hope to get there. Of course it is better to take your time but in stressed birds it is better to just get a quick overview and go from there. 

     Many vets seem to forget to tell owners that there is a risk that their bird will die during the exam because it is so ill and it can come as quite a shock. Just remember that it is possible and it has nothing to do with the vet, it has everything to do with how ill your bird was. Yet another reason it is important to seek out a veterinarian with training and experience in the species that you are bringing to them.