Evaluation of the neurological system's responsivity through the pupil of the racing pigeonOriginal Title (non-English) Az idegrendszer valaszkeszsegenek vizsgalata - a postagalamb pupillajan keresztul [Hungarian]

摘要

The authors give a short orientation about the development of racing pigeon breeding and about the homing-ability of pigeons. They present the eye theory", which is the conception of a possible connection between the eye characteristics and the flying performance. In the literature, completely different opinions have appeared about the evaluation and importance of the eye, therefore the authors aim to verify the existence of this connection. They carried out an experiment to decide whether the contracting ability of the pupil shows a relationship to the speed at which the bird flies.There were 53 pigeons with pedigree and flying performances drawn into the evaluation. Photographs were taken of their eyes under provoked lighting circumstances (sudden strong light), and these were further used to determine the iris-pupil proportion as well as its group code (small pupil, large pupil). In the first step of the data processing the breeding value of flying performances (speed) by competition was estimated using an animal model. After that, the possible effect of the iris-pupil proportions (coded) on the individual average speed was computed by an analysis of variance.Their result shows that pigeons, who constrict their pupils making them smaller after the provocation flew quicker during their races than their counter-parts whose pupils remained larger (p=0.038). According to the proven connection, the authors believe that not only the grade of pupil contraction but also the level of racing performance results from signals derived from the responsivity of the nerve system. By this, the provocation probe indicates the individual difference in the cases of iris-pupil proportion indirectly, while in the cases of generally seen traits like adaptability, metabolic type and racing ability, it is indicated directly.The authors recommend to take the provoked iris-pupil proportion into consideration in advance (in pre-selection) when buying a bird or selecting for racing or for mating.