In January, we brought you the following article about the ongoing research of sex ratio manipulation in birds.
After that, several persons have contacted us with huge interest in this topic. One of them, Dr. Vivian C. Goerlich-Jansson from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University, asked us for cooperation in their own research with the same specialization.
Dr. Goerlich-Jansson is well known in this field as she published very interesting article about sex ratio manipulation in pigeons six years ago. A team of authors of this study found out that the elevated level of testosterone (sex hormone) skewed the sex ratio of parent offsprings.
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Red-browed Amazon (Amazona rhodocorytha). (c) Duncan Rawlinson. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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At this moment, the team from Utrech University works on a questionnaire which is intended for breeders of Amazona parrots. From extracted data the appropriate research will follow. If you would like to contribute to answering the question „Can parrots manipulate with the sex ratio of their offspring?“ then, please, click on the following link and fill the questionnaire. For now, it’s only in Dutch. However, we will inform you when it will be available also in English.
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Title photo: (c) Lubomir Tomiska, ParrotsDailyNews.com