A Case of Anophthalmia in a Domestic Color Morph of Zebra Finch

[finchwench]

Comments

[pheslaki]

Interesting! My sister used to have a dog with that condition. Everyone's first reaction to her (the dog, not my sister) was extreme pity, which was hilarious considering the dog was incredibly well-trained. She did rally, therapy, and competitive cart-pulling, was well-adjusted and happy and could run full-tilt into a wall and bounce off with no ill effects.

[finchwench]

Tiresias seems happy to me. Of course, how would know for sure? But he sings and eats well and busies himself (he plays with a toy ladder); I think that he is a pleasant little guy.

[cyaneus]

When I volunteered in wildlife rehab, someone brought us a robin with no eyes. It was completely healthy otherwise, but slightly creepy.

[finchwench]

When I was trying to research the topic more, I found a few reports of cases in American Robin (the thrush)1,2.

[owlsie]

when i used to breed cockatiels, i had some that were born with no eyes.

[finchwench]

Did this affect a specific color morph or family line or just random birds of the flock?

[owlsie]

they were white faces. when they were born i thought they had red eyes, but that was just skin growing over the hollow where their eyes should have been. it wasn't even decreased eye tissue; there was nothing there. i didn't breed their parents again, and all of them unfortunately died.

[blasphemusfish]

I've had a rat with small eyes, he was a beige husky/roan. I wonder if they can be compared o: *so interested in this stuff*
He was totally unaffected too, lived life like a normal rat. Then again I've had completely blind rats, they don't depend on their eyesight so much.

[finchwench]

Nice avatar, firstly.

I suspect that some mutations do "translate" among aves and mammals. Since the chemistry of the color, in many cases, is similar, it seems plausible that genetic control and side-effects of that could be as well (although since sex determination in mammals and birds differs significantly, sex-linked characteristics likely do not translate).

I wish that there were more systematic studies of this! I could not find any information in avian veterinary texts. At least there were some studies of afflicted rodents.

[chiere]

Weird eye things happen in all sorts of species with some sort of color mutations. Homozygous merle dogs can be born w/o eyes, (most commonly discussed are merle to merle breedings of Australian Shepherds that can produce white headed blind and deaf pups.) Homozygous Appaloosas, (known as few spots and snow caps,) are all 100% blind at night. If you can't see to read, they can't see at all. Both of those are genetically related; I suspect Tiresias's might be as well.

He's a cutie!

[finchwench]

So I am reading -- this occurs in the homozygous mutations of some rodents too (e.g. "eyeless white").

Tiresias's condition is undoubtedly correlated to his color mutation somehow.