Birds' beaks are made of keratin, similar to human fingernails and hair. Normally, beaks wear down with use, continuing to grow at the same time. There's a balance. But something is causing this super-fast growth -- and it doesn't get turned off. There seems to be a concentration in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska but the cause is unknown still.
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Read more about this mystery at the Alaska Science Center or the Falcon Research Group or the University of Michigan Dearborn.
Abnormalities can be found in all life forms--corvids included. Here are some interesting photos I found of corvids with two abnormalities deformed beaks and partial albino-ism--leucistic or albino corvids.
Leucistic (partially-albino) crow
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Albino Steller's Jay
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Leucistic (partially-albino) magpie (Photo from Messybeast.com)
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Leucistic (partially-albino) Jackdaw (Photo Source: Surfbirds.com)
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Raven with a deformed bill
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Crow with deformed beak
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Crow with deformed beak
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Steller's Jay with deformed beak
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Read about THE MYSTERY OF THE LONG-BEAK SYNDROME here. Or you can read Passerines with Deformed Bills by Julie A. Craves (an article) here.
There seems to be a high concentration of birds with deformed beaks in the Pacific Northwest--I wonder why.
Birds' beaks are made of keratin, similar to human fingernails and hair. Normally, beaks wear down with use, continuing to grow at the same time. There's a balance. But something is causing this super-fast growth -- and it doesn't get turned off. There seems to be a concentration in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska but the cause is unknown still.
read more | digg story
Read more about this mystery at the Alaska Science Center or the Falcon Research Group or the University of Michigan Dearborn.
