Embryological Development of Oxygen Consumption and Egg Parameters in the Semi-altricial Australian Diamond Dove, Geopelia cuneata

Abstract

Diamond dove eggs show characteristics typical of semi-altricial birds. All egg parameters that we examined were within the expected range for semi-altricial birds; only the relative portion of lipid content (7·9% of egg mass) was different from (25% higher) the mean value for comparable-sized eggs of semi- altricial birds. The embryonic development of oxygen consumption shows a clear plateau phase with values within the expected range for semi-altricial species. The plateau occurs at 83·0 ± 6·0% of incubation, and is about 1 day in duration; the oxygen consumption per egg is 42·2 ± 3·14 mL per day and 0·80 ± 0·06 mL per g per h, respectively.