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feathers1

tissue_organ_import: 
feathers
Clinical description: 
Birds have several types of feathers distributed across various regions of their body including down, body feathers, and flight feathers. Look for abnormalities in feather conformation such as warping or malformed barbs and barbules. Make note of any body regions that are missing feathers. Feathers are normally distributed along tracks on the body, called pterylae. These tracks are interspersed with featherless tracts called apteria. Keep in mind, that not all feather loss is abnormal. Seasonal feather molting is a normal physiologic process. Additionally, females who are incubating eggs may have an area on their abdomen lacking feathers, called the brood patch. In non-pathologic feather loss, the skin will appear healthy. In cases of pathologic feather loss, such as excessive feather picking by the bird, or its cage mates, the skin will be traumatized.
Record number: 
10264
Case number: 
Unknown
Age: 
6 weeks
Breed: 
White Leghorn
Clinical form: 
Unknown
Infection type: 
Unknown
Housing/mgmnt type: 
Select One
Priority: 
1
Rights: 
© Cornell University
Etiology: 
Tissues and organs: 
Asset type: 
Image: