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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Chris RedfernORCiD
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Redwings which died by flying into a lighthouse off North Wales, UK, while on migration were used to examine the relationship between fat levels and intestine size. The weight of claviculo-coracoid fat was used as a measure of relative fat levels. Both intestine length and claviculo-coracoid fat mass correlated with wing length, a measure of body size. Lipid-extracted dry mass of the intestine did not correlate with wing length or with intestine length; dry mass and length were therefore independent measures of intestine size. Claviculo-coracoid fat mass correlated with intestinal length in first-year females which, for this group, explained 25% of the variance in fat mass independently of body size. For all birds, claviculo-coracoid fat mass also correlated with intestine lipid-extracted dry mass, explaining 10% of variance in claviculo-coracoid fat mass independently of body size. Intestine dry mass may be a factor determining the extent of fat accumulation in individual birds, or may be correlated with fat losses during flight. However, since claviculo-coracoid fat mass correlated with intestine length in first-year female Redwings, we speculate that diet may vary according to experience and dominance interactions within feeding flocks.
Author(s): Redfern, C.P.F., Douglas, G., Halliday, T.
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Ardea
Year: 2002
Volume: 90
Issue: 2
Pages: 285-292
Print publication date: 01/01/2002
ISSN (print): 0373-2266
ISSN (electronic):
