Red-faced canaries
Canaries with red plumage, known as red-factor canaries , are one of the most popular types of color today and are bred primarily for their colorful plumage. The singing of the color canaries is loud, happy and lively.
Development history
Probably the biggest boom in color canary breeding came after the successful crossing of the red hooded siskin ( Carduelis cucullata ) with the yellow canary. Georg Baum-Peltzer , who lived near Allenstein in the Gerdauen district in what was then East Prussia, traveled to northern South America as a military envoy before, during and after the First World War and repeatedly brought birds back with him. He is said to have been the first German to succeed in breeding fertile offspring from hooded siskins and canaries.
However, only some of the orange-colored mixed race males were fertile . These had to be mated with yellow canaries, since female hooded siskins were only kept very few by breeders at the time, or they hardly brood. The offspring of the F2 generation (from orange-colored mixed breed males with yellow female canaries) had even less red proportions. Only in the third generation were females fertile. However, these had only a very small amount of red in their plumage, but could now be paired with male hooded siskins.
In cooperation with the East Prussian official Bruno Matern , the railway inspector Ludwig Dahms from Königsberg and the factory director i. Over the years, R. Carl Balser from Fulda succeeded in transferring the property of red plumage to canaries.
At the beginning of the 1920s, Hans Julius Duncker and the canary breeder Karl Reich (1885–1944) began attempting crossbreeding between the hooded siskin and canaries on a large scale in order to research the hereditary nature of various genetic factors. From 1925 Dunker cooperated with Carl Hubert Cremer , Consul General and wealthy Bremen merchant . Cremer made his aviary facilities available and financed the whole thing.
Despite all efforts, a canary could never be produced that was the strong red of the hooded siskin. At best the birds were orange. It was only decades later that it was discovered that birds had to ingest certain carotenoids in order to be able to color their plumage red. Through the crossing of the hooded siskin into the canaries, further color properties were transferred: the mosaic factor and the optical blue factor.
Karyotype and genome
The number of chromosomes anchored in the cell nucleus is usually given as 2n = ± 80. The uncertainty about the actual number of chromosomes in the canary is due to the large number of microchromosomes . Due to their small size, they usually cannot be identified from the tape pattern .
Mechanisms of gene transfer
The synthesis of the body's own yellow carotenoids - the canary breeder speaks of yellow lipochromes here - is controlled by an L + gene . This gene is on an autosome . Carduelids with red plumage are evolutionarily young and emerged from species that can only develop yellow carotenoids. In the Girlitzen and Neuweltzeisigen only one type forms red feathers. This is the red-fronted girlitz ( Serinus pusillus ) and the hooded siskin ( Carduelis [Spinus] cucullata ). Their ability to produce red lipochrome instead of yellow lipochrome must have resulted from a mutation of the L + gene . This mutation is known as L R ( lipochrome red ).
Since the hooded siskin x canary cross produced fertile offspring, L R in the hooded siskin and later in the red canary must be on the same gene locus as L + . Otherwise it would come in meiosis for deletion on the respective chromosomes. This would at least result in sterile offspring, as is known from other attempts at crossbreeding with other Carduelid species.
Color strokes with red factor
The red factor has been carried over to all canary colors over the decades. In the case of red-ground colored canaries with melanins, the red lipochromes form a color mixture with the melanins. Red-factor canaries therefore look significantly different than canaries with a yellow or white base color.
Lightened red mold white wing
Lightened red intense
Lightened red mosaic type 2
Black red mosaic type 2
Agate red mold
Phaeo red mosaic type 2
Lizard red mold
Color canaries are active, hardy and quite easy to keep birds. Red canaries are available at most pet stores. Color canaries are also offered at bird shows organized by breeders' associations or on the Internet. So the birds can form the red optimally during moulting administering is canthaxanthin necessary. This additive is available in every well-stocked pet shop.
See also
literature
- TR Birkhead: A brand-new bird: how two amateur scientists created the first genetically engineered animal. Basic Books, New York 2003, ISBN 0-465-00665-5 .
- TR Birkhead, K. Schulze-Hagen, G. Palfner: The color of birds: Hans Duncker, pioneer bird geneticist. In: Journal of Ornithology. 144, No. 3, July 2003.
- H. Klein: The color canary . Jacob Helene Verlag, Pfungstadt 1965, OCLC 872649925 .
- B. Schneider: When the budgies came to Europe. In the footsteps of Karl Russ and Karl Neunzig - a journey through 100 years of bird-loving history. Self-published, 2005, ISBN 3-00-014787-X . (russundneunzig.de)
- N. Schramm: Color compass for canaries . epubli, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-7375-3737-7 .
- N. Schramm: The color canaries - genetics, breeding, keeping, exhibition . Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-6871-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ N. Bulatova: A Comparative karyological study of passerine birds. In: Acta Sc.Nat. Brno. 15, 1981, pp. 1-44.
- ↑ A.-K. Fridolfsson, H. Cheng, NG Copeland, NA Jenkins, Liu Hsiao-Ching, T. Raudsepp, T. Woodage, B. Chowdhary, J. Halverson, H. Ellegren: Evolution of the avian sex chromosomes from an ancestral pair of autosomes. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 95 (14), Jul 7, 1998, pp. 8147-8152. PMC 20944 (free full text)