| cerebrospinal nematodiasis and visceral larva migrans in an australian (latham's) brush turkey. | cerebrospinal nematodiasis and visceral larva migrans were diagnosed in an australian (latham's) brush turkey (alectura lathami) that died at the indianapolis zoo following a progressive neurologic disease. histologically, multifocal areas of malacia, necrosis, and inflammation were seen in sections of cerebrum, cerebellum, and midbrain; lesions were most severe in the cerebellum. a large granuloma in a lung contained cross sections of a large ascarid larva identified as baylisascaris. the cns l ... | 1982 | 7174447 |
| ontogeny of social behavior in the megapode australian brush-turkey (alectura lathami). | megapodes meet conspecifics at an unpredictable age, and it is unknown how their social behavior develops under such conditions. the authors induced encounters between 2-day-old socially naive hatchlings and up to 49-day-old chicks of the australian brush-turkey (alectura lathami) in a large outdoor aviary. all social behavior patterns found in older chicks were present in hatchlings and did not change in form or the frequency in which they occurred thereafer; the frequency of calling was the on ... | 2003 | 12735362 |
| geographical structuring of feather mite assemblages from the australian brush-turkey (aves: megapodiidae). | populations of a host species may exhibit different assemblages of parasites and other symbionts. the loss of certain species of symbionts (lineage sorting, or "missing-the-boat") is a mechanism by which geographical variation in symbiont assemblages can arise. we studied feather mites and lice from australian brush-turkeys (aves: megapodiidae: alectura lathami) and expected to observe geographical structuring in arthropod assemblages for several reasons. first, because the brush-turkey is a sed ... | 2004 | 15040667 |
| social responses without early experience: australian brush-turkey chicks use specific visual cues to aggregate with conspecifics. | almost all birds depend upon early experience with adults and siblings to learn recognition cues. megapodes, such as the australian brush-turkey (alectura lathami), have evolved a very different life history. eggs are incubated in mounds of decaying organic material. chicks hatch asynchronously and receive no parental care, so imprinting cannot occur. nevertheless, chicks subsequently form groups with similar-aged conspecifics. we explored the perceptual basis of this aggregation response, focus ... | 2004 | 15159424 |
| the localized environmental degradation of protected areas adjacent to bird feeding stations: a case study of the australian brush-turkey alectura lathami. | this study investigated the potential for wildlife feeding to artificially increase population densities of the australian brush-turkey, alectura lathami and assessed the indirect adverse effects that this may have on surrounding forest floor vegetation. census counts and observations of feeding activity conducted in recreation areas of australia's gold coast hinterland confirmed that brush-turkey population densities were significantly elevated by the provision of food by humans. brush-turkey d ... | 2004 | 15160737 |
| call recognition in chicks of the australian brush-turkey (alectura lathami). | most birds rely on imprinting and experience with conspecifics to learn species-specific recognition cues. australian brush-turkeys (alectura lathami) do not imprint and form no bonds with parents. they hatch asynchronously, disperse widely and meet juvenile conspecifics at an unpredictable age. nevertheless, in captivity, hatchlings respond to other chicks. a recent study, which involved the use of robotic models, found that chicks prefer to approach robots that emit specific visual cues. here, ... | 2006 | 16160818 |
| life history and social learning: megapode chicks fail to acquire feeding preferences from conspecifics. | australian brush-turkeys, alectura lathami, are birds with an unusual life history: the young receive no parental care and first encounter conspecifics at an unpredictable age. brush-turkey chicks that were 3-4 days old were presented with a robot model that appeared to feed from a distinctively colored dish. in control training trials, chicks saw a robot standing next to a different dish and scanning from side to side. chicks expressed a strong tendency to feed from dishes of the type indicated ... | 2005 | 16366771 |
| development of maximum metabolic rate and pulmonary diffusing capacity in the superprecocial australian brush turkey alectura lathami: an allometric and morphometric study. | the australian brush turkey alectura lathami is a member of the megapodiidae, the mound-building birds that produce totally independent, "superprecocial" hatchlings. this study examined the post-hatching development of resting and maximal metabolic rates, and the morphometrically determined changes in pulmonary gas exchange anatomy, in chicks during 3.7 months of growth from hatchlings (122 g) to subadults (1.1 kg). allometric equations of the form y=am(b) related gas exchange variables (y) to b ... | 2008 | 16714130 |
| temperature-dependent sex ratio in a bird. | to our knowledge, there is, so far, no evidence that incubation temperature can affect sex ratios in birds, although this is common in reptiles. here, we show that incubation temperature does affect sex ratios in megapodes, which are exceptional among birds because they use environmental heat sources for incubation. in the australian brush-turkey alectura lathami, a mound-building megapode, more males hatch at low incubation temperatures and more females hatch at high temperatures, whereas the p ... | 2005 | 17148121 |
| consistent variation in yolk androgens in the australian brush-turkey, a species without sibling competition or parental care. | maternal hormones are an excellent pathway for the mother to influence offspring development, and birds provide exceptional opportunities to study these hormone-mediated maternal effects. two dominant hypotheses about the function of yolk androgens in avian eggs concern maternal manipulation of sibling competition and post hatching paternal care. in megapodes, however, neither sibling competition nor post hatching parental care exists. eggs are incubated by external heat sources, and chicks dig ... | 2008 | 18086471 |
| temperature-dependent sex-biased embryo mortality in a bird. | sex ratios have important evolutionary consequences and are often biased by environmental factors. the effect of developmental temperature on offspring sex ratios has been widely documented across a diverse range of taxa but has rarely been investigated in birds and mammals. however, recent field observations and artificial incubation experiments have demonstrated that the hatching sex ratio of a megapode, the australian brush-turkey (alectura lathami), varied with incubation temperature; more f ... | 2008 | 18755669 |
| the effects of incubation temperature on the morphology and composition of australian brush-turkey (alectura lathami) chicks. | environmental heterogeneity during embryonic development generates an important source of variation in offspring phenotypes and can influence the evolution of life histories. the effects of incubation temperature on offspring phenotypes in reptiles has been well documented but remains relatively unexplored in birds as their embryos typically develop over a narrow range of temperatures. megapode birds (order galliformes; family megapodiidae) are unique in that their embryos tolerate and develop o ... | 2009 | 19471897 |
| when hatchlings outperform adults: locomotor development in australian brush turkeys (alectura lathami, galliformes). | within galliformes, megapods (brush turkey, malleefowl, scrubfowl) exhibit unique forms of parental care and growth. hatchlings receive no post-hatching parental care and exhibit the most exaggerated precocial development of all extant birds, hatching with fully developed, flight-capable forelimbs. rather than flying up to safety, young birds preferentially employ wing-assisted incline running. newly hatched australian brush turkeys (alectura lathami) are extraordinarily proficient at negotiatin ... | 2010 | 21047855 |
| the impact of invasive cane toads on native wildlife in southern australia. | commonly, invaders have different impacts in different places. the spread of cane toads (rhinella marina: bufonidae) has been devastating for native fauna in tropical australia, but the toads' impact remains unstudied in temperate-zone australia. we surveyed habitat characteristics and fauna in campgrounds along the central eastern coast of australia, in eight sites that have been colonized by cane toads and another eight that have not. the presence of cane toads was associated with lower faunal ... | 2015 | 26445649 |
| male brush-turkeys attempt sexual coercion in unusual circumstances. | sexual coercion by males is generally understood to have three forms: forced copulation, harassment and intimidation. we studied australian brush-turkeys, alectura lathami, to determine whether some male behaviours towards females at incubation mounds could be classified as aggressive, whether males were attempting sexual coercion and, if so, whether the coercion was successful. we found that some male behaviours towards females were significantly more likely to be followed by the cessation of f ... | 2014 | 24932897 |
| antimicrobial properties of a nanostructured eggshell from a compost-nesting bird. | infection is an important source of mortality for avian embryos but parental behaviors and eggs themselves can provide a network of antimicrobial defenses. mound builders (aves: megapodiidae) are unique among birds in that they produce heat for developing embryos not by sitting on eggs but by burying them in carefully tended mounds of soil and microbially decomposing vegetation. the low infection rate of eggs of one species in particular, the australian brush-turkey (alectura lathami), suggests ... | 2014 | 24311808 |
| taxonomic review of the late cenozoic megapodes (galliformes: megapodiidae) of australia. | megapodes are unusual galliform birds that use passive heat sources to incubate their eggs. evolutionary relationships of extant megapode taxa have become clearer with the advent of molecular analyses, but the systematics of large, extinct forms (progura gallinacea, progura naracoortensis) from the late cenozoic of australia has been a source of confusion. it was recently suggested that the two species of progura were synonymous, and that this taxon dwarfed into the extant malleefowl leipoa ocel ... | 2017 | 28680676 |
| the biomechanical, chemical and physiological adaptations of the eggs of two australian megapodes to their nesting strategies and their implications for extinct titanosaur dinosaurs. | megapodes are galliform birds endemic to australasia and unusual among modern birds in that they bury their eggs for incubation in diverse substrates and using various strategies. alectura lathami and leipoa ocellata are australian megapodes that build and nest in mounds of soil and organic matter. such unusual nesting behaviours have resulted in particular evolutionary adaptations of their eggs and eggshells. we used a combination of scanning electron microscopy, including electron backscatter ... | 2017 | 28556927 |
| karyotype analysis and sex determination in australian brush-turkeys (alectura lathami). | sexual differentiation across taxa may be due to genetic sex determination (gsd) and/or temperature sex determination (tsd). in many mammals, males are heterogametic (xy); whereas females are homogametic (xx). in most birds, the opposite is the case with females being heterogametic (zw) and males the homogametic sex (zz). many reptile species lack sex chromosomes, and instead, sexual differentiation is influenced by temperature with specific temperatures promoting males or females varying across ... | 2017 | 28910392 |